You Are My Everything
by NaniWise
Summary: (meister AU) Lavi has been hired by the light meister, Allen to take him across the continent and to the grand city of Wonderland but they encounter many hardships on the way but with thier troubles, a friendship begins to grow. NO PAIRINGS.
1. January

(I own nothing. This is connected to You are my Dream. If you want more, I'd be happy to make more.)

Books were not something that Lavi's young client, Allen had a shortage of.

Yes, he understood that the light meister had a pathogen that kept thier bodies pure and extended thier lifespan a great deal but Allen was only fifteen and should not have lived long enough to gather such a collection.

Such a question was heavy on the young dormouse's mind because the large wooden crate, the first and heaviest car in a train of crates filled with the contents of the large and seemingly cursed house where he once lived, filled with said books was his to pull down the rocky and steep mountain path while the small but most definitely not weak owner of the books walked beside him in unusual bliss.

He saw him load them into the crate and half of them where children's tales or old books in a language he could not understand. He had no idea what sort of use he'd even have for such literature when he was such a talented light meister but even the apprentice dormouse didn't have the answers for such thing even though it seemed like he should when it was he who would escort the boy from one side of the continent to other.

But Allen paused in his tracks momentarily.

The climate in the Unfruchtbar mountain range had always been dry and humid to the point of driving those traped in it to madness so having to stay her a moment longer for any sort of reason grated on Lavi's nerves quite a bit.

He opened his mouth to speak but only a painfully dry cough came out.

All the dust from the various rock slides that happen more often than one might thick had gotten into his lungs because a life in the slums had led him to be a mouth breather.

He coughed to the point that he felt sick when Allen began to dig into the pure white satchel slung over his small shoulder.

He pulled from it a small clear bottle made from glass, a very rare substance in these parts. Inside was a green syrup like substance.

With one smooth hand motion, he handed it to Lavi who didn't notice it at first, but when he did, he eyed it suspiciously.

"Is this revolting" He asked, shivering at the memory "Like your other potions?"

Allen shook his head.

"No." He said in his usual raspy tone "Sweet."

Lavi was still wary of this teal substance but he felt surprisingly horrible for making some kid with a damaged throat speak so he took it, albeit hesitantly.

At first he groaned because he was taken back by the cold sensation in his mouth but after he swallowed, he was pleasantly surprised by the taste of mint quenching his thirst and relieving his dry throat.

It was not sweet like sugar but the relief was definitely sweet. All of a sudden, he felt far compliant to pull this long string of train cars along this long mountain path.

"Well, thanks little buddy!" He smiled as he wiped his mouth "That actually tasted pretty darn good!"

Allen smiled brightly at his praise but reached into his satchel once more.

"What have you got there?"

Quickly, Allen retracted his hand to reveal what Lavi recognized to be a foreign penny like the kind you put in wishing wells.

At first he was confused until Allen tapped his temple twice with his index finger twice.

"Penny?" Lavi suddenly realized what he was trying to say "Penny for my thoughts? Is that what you mean?"

Allen nodded rather violently and Lavi somehow felt just as giddy.

He thought it appropriate to continue walking while this conversation went on.

"Well I guess I was wondering how you got all these darn books…"

"Not mine."

"What?"

"Not mine. Pas."

"Pa? Who is that?"

"Father."

"Pa is your dad?"

"Yes."

"Hmmm… Then why are we taking all his stuff with us?"

"In the city."

"What?"

And so they went on onto thier journey to Wonderland, the grand land fueled by the power of a star.


	2. February

(This is really dumb but serves as an explanation for poor lavi. I own nothing. I hope you enjoy. Good day and God bless.)

The air was thinner and fresher than what Allen was used to in the kingdom of Long Wu and it really seemed to effect him physically.

He stopped responding to Lavi with words all together and his stomach was making this awful groaning sound that would make even the most optimistic person's ears bleed if only just a little.

When he could no longer take it, decided to rest up at an inn a little before noon.

It was not the best place he had seen, but it was a bed to sleep in and a warm supper when the sun went down.

The staff and owner were plenty suspicious of him, being a one eyed dormouse, a guardian warriors of the city gates and portals notorious for excepting bribes and letting unwanted people into the town.

That was nothing new about that but what surprised him was thier reaction to Allen.

Once they saw the stigma on his forehead that was proof of him being a meister, rather that kicking him and his hired dormouse out of town, they treated him like he was thier own child.

They slaughtered a fat brown cow just because of his arrival and cooked a feast that, for commoners, was pretty darn good. It reminded him of the food his grandfather would always buy on Sunday afternoons.

But Allen ate at least four times as much as he did to the point that even the most obese people were put to shame.

Lavi never thought seeing another person eat would make him feel sick but the amount of food and water going down the throat of that small child was unnatural.

Allen was on his second barrel of water for the day when Lavi started getting plain old concerned for his little friend.

Water dropped down his chin, leaving the whole front of his tunic soaked and he only lowered his wooden mug to take a breath.

He looked like a happy content child, his face brimming and the bar owner, Krory was happy to comply to his every desire.

"He's your friend?"

Lavi was suddenly snapped from his thoughts by a voice beside him.

He rotated his body to get a full and clear view of a rather beautiful woman who he quickly recognized to be the bar owner's wife, Eliade.

Yes, that realization came with sadness because she was a devastatingly beautiful woman and, from what he saw, was just his kind of woman. A single "Strike" went unspoken at the sight of her.

"Yes and no. A client, actually." He replied "We came from the peaks of Nim."

"Oh, so you are his escort?" She said with so much surprise that it was almost hurtful "Is that what you dormice are doing these days?"

"Not much to do with all this peace in the land."

"Thats true." She sighed.

There was a short and akward silence but ended when the two looked back up to Allen who was happily munching away at his third turkey.

Eliade quickly noticed the colour draining from his face.

"You seem a bit sick."

"What? No no, it's not that."

"Then why do you look at him like he's an alien creature?" She looked genuinely confused.

"He just… Seems to….. Eat alot."

She chuckled and sat down on the wooden stool beside him.

"Of course he does." She said "Being a light meister and all."

"What does that mean? I don't know much about this pathogen stuff."

"Well, a meister can come from various different sources but with various different powers. Light is known for its healing abilities by projecting one's own health onto others and slowly killing the carrier but as far as offense goes, it also can produce something called a laser."

A laser, now that he thought about it, was that thing Allen had used to destroy that behemoth pup a day or two ago.

He remembered that very well.

"A laser is a very strong and powerful light capable of causing great destruction but it takes a great deal of heat and energy to conjure up. Light must be constantly drying the poor boy out and draining his energy so it's completely natural for him to eat and drink this much. Otherwise, he could die in a few short days."

"Really? Thats…."

"Well," She replied "No matter how convenient or useful his powers may be, he is still very sick."

He glanced over again, finding his view and opinion of the boy rather changed.

If all she said was true, he should not make it into adulthood. He found him living alone so it's a mystery how he even survived to the age he is now.

What was the king of Wonderland even thinking, calling all the meisters to his kingdom? What could he even be planning?

But the night carried on and dear little Allen spent these peaceful moments in glee, fully aware that he would have them again.


	3. March

(I own nothing. I like these two alot. They kind of remind me of Gauche and Lag from Letter Bee which is, by the way, one of my favorite mangas ever. Good day and God bless.)

There was quite a storm that night in that cozy little town. From dark and collosal clouds, lighting made cracks in the sky and it roared out in agony, all the while crying till the river overflowed and all of the peaceful residents felt the pain, to.

Violent winds wailed as they tore at the branches of the trees and the flowers of the garden.

Dogs howled and children screamed out in terror.

There was seemingly nothing peaceful about this might.

Lavi and Allen, our stories young heros chose a hotel room on the third floor so they safe from the rain floods on the first floor but they quickly felt everyone else's pain when the electricity was quickly cut off and the heater stopped working.

Sadly, the moment that happened, the icy cold draft coming from above his bed woke him.

He groaned, rolled around a bit and suddenly became upset and threw all the layers of sheets from his head.

He sat up "What on earth-!".

Thunder clapped deafeningly overhead.

He lept like a scared cat.

"Wow!" He cried "That was super close!"

He cast a glance towards shallow window paine where rain pounded against it heavily.

He got up from his bed and wrapped one of his sheets around his shoulders.

He made his way over to the window just in time to see a flash of lightning so he counted the seconds till he heard the thunderclap.

When he was young, he lost his eye to a flock of harpies that attacked his village. In the healing room, he grew to be very bored so the only thing he could do was count the seconds in-between the thunder and lightning.

It grew into a habit since then.

He was just about to count the seconds when the thunderclap came but a second after the thunder, shaking the room with a horribly loud sound.

It even shook him up a little bit.

It sounded less like thunder than a strangled animal and it sounded more like it came from the room than it did the sky.

With the chill nawing heavily at us back, he turned to see if the thunder had awoken Allen only to find the boy sitting straight up in his bed, looking far more startled than he had ever seen him.

That's when it dawned on him that a strangled animal sounds dangerously close to a boy with a very damaged throat screaming in terror.

"You okay, little buddy?" He said as he walked towards his client who wrapped his sheets around his whole head and body like a cloak "Did you have a nightmare or something?"

As soon as he reached his side, Allen shook his head rather frantically.

"Allen, are...You scared of thunder?"

To that, he was about to disagree extra strongly until another round of thunder shook the room.

It hardly fazed Lavi but the sound and flashing lights sent Allen's whole body in a queue as he yelped in fear.

Once the moment passed, he still shook but attempted to deny it once but it was futile. Lavi was already convinced.

He squeezed his eyes shut and pursed his lips. He looked like a small child and Lavi could not help but feel sorry for him.

Perhaps he didn't have any potion in his satchel to cure this.

He pulled his sheet over the shoulders of both of them to keep them both warm.

"That's cool," He said to him "Because, for the record, your lasers are twice as loud and bright as these."

Allen stopped shaking momentarily and looked at him, curious as what he was talking about.

"What?"

"Your lasers are brighter and louder! They last really long and they can cut through trees and rocks!"

"Really?"

"Yah, man! So, you see that would not make any sense to be scared of a little thunder."

Lavi's comforting words and stories acted as a lullaby and Allen soon found himself falling asleep at Lavi's shoulder. He didn't mind. He had plenty of seconds to count to keep himself occupied.

Perhaps this night wouldn't be as Ong as he had previously assumed.


	4. April

(I own nothing. Please enjoy this quick update. Good day and God bless!)

In all the time that Allen lived in that big house all alone, he hadn't really gotten sick aside from the common cold and the occasional sniffles.

His home was like a haven against the seasonal allergies and minor plagues that he almost forgot they existed entirely.

Since he was, for the most part, on his own since his father went to the city of Wonderland, these illnesses that were commonplace in life didn't really effect anyone he knew, either.

That was different now. Now he had ventured beyond his comfort zone anf experienced both the good and bad.

Since receiving a letter from the Hatter himself, a letter stating that all meisters were to be in wonderland by the first of December to recieve a cure that was to ease all their sufferings and woes, he had used every penny he had, which wasn't much, to hire the least intimidating dormouse he could find at the gate that day to take him across the continent.

He needed him because he could hardly find the market in the village he lived his whole life in and highly doubted he'd be able to travel thousands of miles and arrive at his destination, much less in one piece.

He now see's that he really just didn't want to go alone.

Despite what they say, though, the dormouse called Lavi was actually very kind to him. He always took a room in an inn when he was tired and bought him good was hungry. He always talked to him when ever the silence was too much and talked for him rather accurately when ever someone asked him something.

He was never rude or mean or cruel to him because he barely had a voice.

Allen wondered if, even though he had only known him for a few short months, he could call him his friend. The first he had since Mana disappeared.

He was rather confused on the matter because had absolutely no idea how to make friends and really what to do with them as after they were made.

He didn't even know if Lavi felt the same way or if he was just being deceitful Luke most dormice were thought to be.

He would hate to be used so he chose to be cautious.


	5. May

_(Hello again! I own nothing! By the way, I apologize sincerely for this. It's just that friends get into some rather wierd and nasty business when left alone for too long. Not to mention that intense heat is awful. I don't know but I hope you enjoy. Good day and God bless!)_

The sun was shining brightly that day but the air around our traveling companions, Lavi and Allen, was wet and humid like the two of them had never experienced before.

The large Western kingdom of Ba Long was far from festive in the month of may so tourism was not the most successful business this time of year. This meant that the normally cheap and small time inns and hotels, which Lavi assumed he could afford before actually arriving in the country, rose thier prices to the point that even the hotels in wonderland would cringe.

This only left dear sweaty Lavi with a very hungry Allen, a few ties buzzing around his head in attempt to drive him mad and the distinct pondering on just how these hotel owners stayed in business.

In the light shade of the street corners, the cold steel of the hatchet he brought with him for defense felt great of his wet and aching temples as he slouched against a nearby paper wall.

Nearby overhead was a circular window that led into the home of what he assumed to be a young husband and wife. Sitting on the window sill were a few heart shaped picture frames, white lilies in a porcelain vase and a sapphire rock sitting upon a twisted wire stand.

He recognized it from every other window he caught sight of in town as it was the Ba Long kingdom's prime force of air conditioning and seemingly even the poorest citizens could afford it.

It was called the Xuěyú yán if memory serves him right.

He had never been too fond of the colour blue but right now with the heat beating him down til he could hardly stand, he was quite sure he wouldn't mind taking the colour home as his wife.

Now that he thought about it, this city seemed to lack the colour blue all together with the exception of those household items.

Combined with this level of humidity, it felt as though it were a sea of steaming hot wool rather than earth's open air.

He had no trouble breathing and yet he was suffocating.

All the colours of the world were dulled and melted by the sun's heat. All the yellows and reds seemed to melt from their canvas' and mix together to create vibrant oranges.

After that, the colour of the wood, the stone paved streets and the colourfully decorated rooftops all blended into that same lifeless colour that only appears when you stare at something too long.

It certainly wasn't pretty.

Lavi could tolerate heat but this was something far worse than your average heat. This could practically be labeled airborne fire.

He was sure Allen felt the same for, at least, a few of those things.

Allen, who sat politely by his side had shed his white cloak and hood an hour or so ago and now used them as a cushion to sit on so that the red dirt didn't leave an odd and inappropriate mark on his trousers.

"Ah, I think this might be the end." Lavi stated "I this is the end of the great Lavi Bookman."

Allen did nothing but sigh in response.

He kept his white satchel close because the glass of all the little bottles felt good on his clammy fleash.

But soon enough, Lavi caught sight of the liquid and started.

"Got anything watery in that bag of yours, little buddy?" He groaned out weakly "Anything at all will do just as long as it doesn't kill me."

Allen let out a longer more choppy and rough groan as he rummaged through his satchel with his bad hand.

On that subject, Lavi had noticed that the red moss like marks that used to just cover Allen's left hand now crawled up his forearm like some kind of parasite. He even saw what appeared to be the beginnings of the mark showing on his left eyelid and toes.

He was hardly worried about it being contagious, it hardly even seemed to cause Allen pain but Lavi could not deny that he was still concerned.

He was immediately snapped out of his thoughts when Allen pulled a medium sized bottle with a crimson cork at the mouth from his bag.

Lavi became hopeful briefly, his spirits lifted suddenly only to come crashing down immediately once he recognized the bottle.

Two months ago, when the two slayed a rather smelly and bulbous burrow goblin, a plant fiend, on a rather unstable wooden bridge, Allen used one of his glass bottles to steal bodily liquid samples from the creature and that was the same bottles.

To quote Allen at the time, "Healthy liquid."

Before that point, he really hadn't thought he was capable of something like that or even had an interest in such extensive methods of survival.

He was actually quite impressed.

"Is it" He swallowed painfully as he cringed at the green liquid "Safe?"

Allen shivered painfully at the thought of consuming goblin liquid, despite the fact that it was he who took the liquid to begin with.

But he could neither confirm nor deny that this could make him very sick for several long months because he had never tried it himself.

If taken in small doses, it was actually a very quick cure for a number of awful infections so he really was unsure.

None the less, he was willing to give this little bit of hydration to Lavi and offered a weak shrug to his question.

Lavi made up his mind that it was worth the risk because he needed to make sure it was safe for Allen to drink.

Plus, it was not someone elses body fluids. It was the fluid of a plant creature.

That made it better, right?

None the less, Lavi feared for his life.

"Look, if I don't make it" Lavi stated, taking hold of Allen's hand and looking him straight in his grey eyes "Tell everyone back home I died a hero and that I totally didn't meet my end by plant goblin liquid."

It was a long journey to Wonderland and it seemed like, with every day of travelling, it just seemed to get longer and longer.


	6. June

(Ah, so sorry for not updating more often! I was busy with that other story! Also, sorry for changing the title! I wanted it to fit in a trilogy with similar titles. Anyways, happy new years! I hope it was fun for you! Also, happy birthday Miranda Lotto! I own nothing and I hope you enjoy! Good day and God bless!)

That year the people of the eastern Ba Long region experienced some of the worst storms on record.

To most adults, that would only put the safety of their lives in question.

To most youths, it was the sign of the apocalypse and did their very best to warn all they could.

In the eyes of a child, however, it was quite beautiful.

The soft and flat grasslands were torn to the left and right by invisible monsters that shrieked and cried out through the night. They seemingly played and pranced about for the enjoyment of some sort of entity on the horizon who filled the sky with dark colours and dragons of smoke. The little crystals fell from the sky and the creatures kept playing because the moment they stopped, the sky became cracked and the entity's rage exploded as the valley was lit up with blinding light and it commanded them to, once more, shake the land.

But it never concerned the children like it did the adults or the youths because they felt safe in the arms of the loved ones around them and that was that.

But, unfortunately, not everyone was lucky enough to have a place to stay on those chaotic nights.

Take a look to the most wealthy hotel in the city, the grand plaza owned by a certain very rich man, far away from the charming grasslands and the creatures that danced at the orders of another.

"Away with you, scum!" Yelled the bulbous man, his face turning various shades of red as his voice rise in volume "Away from this city! No one wants you here!"

With one fowl swing of his large monsterous arm, he threw the woman before him to the rain soaked ground.

The woman was small and sick, bruised and beaten by her previous employer, easily visible through the poor leather blanket she had wrapped around her shoulders.

The impact knocked her fragile spectacles from her nose and fell some distance away from her.

"Please, sir!" She begged helplessly as she slapped the ground, blind, on all fours like an animal trying to locate her glasses "Please, just give me another chance! Please!"

"What, now youre retarded to top it all off!?" He sneered sarcastically "I won't risk catching your filth!"

Even through the heavy rainfall, the young woman could still see the disdain that marred their faces.

All these wealthy people, people just like her, all gathered at the iron gate of the hotel just to scorn and laugh at her for the single mistake.

The mere minor mistake of revealing to her master that the reason behind her sluggishness and heavy cold on these especially cold nights was all because of one reason.

Because she was flame meister at birth.

"I can't believe this!" He roared "After all I've done for you! Giving you a place to stay! Paying for your husband's medication! This is how you repay me?!"

Thunder cracked overhead, shattering her composure and hopes with it.

He may have said these things like he had been in anyway kind to her but all she remembered was being forced into his service like a slave when all she wanted was to go home to the husband who truly loved her. This pompous hotel owner made her nothing but a tea servant who worked unusually long hours for extraordinarily low wages. A laughing stock to all who saw her and all because no one would take her because of a sickness .

If the pathogen didn't kill her, the monster before her would have.

"Get out of my sight!" He roared as he urged his hand to strike once more.

She got her glasses just in time to twist around and see the incoming action. She cried out in fright and lifted her arm to shield herself.

This was the life led by poor poor little girl's like her. The corpse of chivalry had long rotted away in its grave and money meant everything. Since her dear husband had gotten so ill, she was the only means of keeping him alive and she supported by no one.

Her far better off family abandoned her simply because they didn't support the marriage of their daughter to some sickly commoner. She thought she'd alright but now she was sure she was going to die tonight.

She was always alone and, despite how much she wanted it, no one was coming to save her.

Her thoughts were of her beloved, wishing that she could have made a better life for him.

"Im sorry, my love…"

The rain continued to fall at a continual and consistent pace, a melodic lullaby in the night.

It continued uninterrupted and yet the pain she expected to feel never came.

She lowered her shield just briefly, daring to see just what had stopped the assault.

She held her breath, still expecting the blow but, to her surprise, she was illuminated by the shadow of an angel looming over her where there was none before.

Or at least that's what she thought he was.

The entirety of the presence before her was seemingly etched into being with the light of the stars above.

A youthful and lanky creature stood before, cloaked in beautiful white fur, seemingly the fur he took from a constalation.

"Who….?" Was all she could manage to say.

In his small childlike had, he held the fist of the hotel owner like it was a pebble, completely still and fearless.

The owner shook in rage as he tried to take his hand from the mysterious boy who appeared in front of him seemingly out of no where.

"What the devil….?" He spat maliciously "Release me!"

He brought his other fist to meet the mysterious boys face only for him to retaliate by ducking his head and lifting the fist he held so firmly above his attackers head in a sort of dance like motion till he had the much larger man's arm pinned behind his back.

"Ack!" He cried out in pain "Why you little…"

Despite the situation and the seemingly impossible things that were happening right before her eyes, she could not question it but only watch.

He was so beautiful. He contrasted with the dark night sky so much so that he almost appeared glowing.

But the white light that seemed to cloak him like a mist seemed to unravel like it was but a knit blanket. The threads of light that made up his sureal presence began to fray into individual strings of colour like a prism had split them.

Soon his once pure white body was but a canvas for the rainbow that now tinted him; his soft hair becoming a neon blue, his skin becoming an illuminated yellow and pink, his soft silver eyes turning a brilliant shade of gold.

His colours were so delicate, she might have thought she imagined it but one thing was unmistakable and that was the ever growing white glow visible through his clenched teeth.

He opened his jaws in a manner almost inhuman and she could see the heat and energy gathering in his throat ominously, just waiting to be freed.

This was not very beautiful, in fact it was almost frightening.

The owner of the hotel just have felt this, to because he quickly grew frightened.

He frantically whipped his head to the slowly dispersing crowd of guests and staff but they would not help him like he had already died, hanging their heads in sadness like they just left his funeral.

"Help me you cowards-!"

But he was silenced by a new melody to fill the stage. A gentle serene hum that brought peace to the mind of the listener.

The woman immediately knew that it came from that boy. Something so beautiful could not come from anyone else.

But as the sound grew more intense and the light grew all the brighter.

Until the sound of a hand striking fleash resounded and silenced the melody.

Someone else had come, a young man came from the shadows and struck the beautiful creature in the face.

At this, the hotel owner hit the ground and quickly groveled away like a pig.

The neon beauty of the creature was gone in an instant and all she saw before her now was a normal boy.

"What are you doing?!" He cried in shock, almost horror "You cannot just murder people, Allen!"

Allen. So that was his name. It was a lovely name for such a creature.

Was she saved, she wondered. Was she free of that man at last?

It didn't matter.

She could hardly remain awake anymore.

"Woah, hey! Are you alright!?"

Suddenly she found herself accompanied by another.

There was the undeniable sound of footsteps rushing her way and soon enough her vision was filled with the young man from before, hair a fiery red and only one vibrant green eye visible because of an eye patch on the other.

Before she could speak, he continued, concern like venom in his voice.

"Hey, stay with me!" He said as he took hold of her head and lifted it from the ground "You are Eliza, aren't you? You're husband sent us."

At the mention of her beloved, she began clinging to consciousness almost immediately.

"…Lenny sent…?"

"Yah! He was worried! You've been gone for three whole days so he employed us to find you."

Images of her beloved Lenny, his head on her shoulder, her hand in his, his smile, his laugh, his eyes. Tears began to fill her own when she thought of him and how she might never see those beautiful eyes ever again.

She was so sorry she could not give him all he needed.

She was so sorry she could not make him healthy.

She was so sorry she made him worry.

But more than that, she was sorry she had to leave him.

"Stay with me!" he insisted "Stay with me!"

She knew the hot liquid dripping down her skull was not just the crystaline raindrops trying to wipe away the scar.

On top of being unable to keep body heat, flame meisters become unnaturally britle and weak, bare to even the weakest of terms and erosions.

When that man threw her down, she would not be surprised if she shattered her skull on the road. She was dying. She felt in the depths of her being.

"Whats…. You're name?"

"Its Lavi. Don't worry! You're gonna be fine" He turned to face the individual named Allen and yelled "Quickly!"

As ordered, the silent boy knelt beside her, his shoes and trousers immediately becoming wet with her blood. She felt sorry for ruining such a pretty thing.

At the urges of his friend, he began to put his fingers on either sides of her cold aching temples. But, before he could, she caught his hands with her own.

His eyes widened in shock at the sudden contact like he had no intention of touching her, himself. At that, Eliza smiled.

"Youre a light meister." She stated. She really should have known the moment she lay eyes on him.

He remained emotionless and still, waiting for her to continue.

"Don't waste your life on me, Allen…." She said, her voice a near whisper.

"But…?" He began to protest by she cut him off with a sudden and unexpected warmth forming in the palms of her hands.

"Youre hands are so cold….." She mused briefly before sobering up, seeing the tears that lined this complete strangers eyes.

She offered him a weak but comforting smile before saying these final words.

"Please…. Tell him to….. always stay warm…."

And with that last breath, the two traveling companions watched the life leave her eyes.

And for a moment, everything seemed to stand still.

Her hands fell limp and released Allen's but, to his surprise, they were still warm.

It was almost an unbelievable sight but in the palm of his shaking hand was a little blue flame, small and helpless. Not even the rain could put it out.

He soon realized that it was like her and Lenny's love because no matter how much life rained on their lives, it could never extinguish their love.

While Lavi had no idea what to say or do.

They had run out of money when arriving in the town and Allen was utterly insistent that they would not sell his father's belongings. So, in attempt to get money, the two signed up for an odd job but Lavi's eye was immediately caught by the man begging on the street corner, begging for someone to find his wife, soneone to save her from whoever had taken her from him and that he'd pay them any amount.

Lavi excepted and, in his optimism, he really thought he'd save her in time.

Now, he dreaded the rising sun, knowing that, come morning, he'd have to break the to him that his wife was gone, dead but free at last because they were just too late.

But death and tragedy were commonplace in this world just like the thunder and lightning overhead were to this town.

To most adults, that would only put the safety of their crops in question.

To most youths, it was the sign of the apocalypse and did their very best to warn all they could.

In the eyes of a child, however, it was quite beautiful.

The soft and flat grasslands were torn to the left and right by invisible monsters that shrieked and cried out through the night. They seemingly played and pranced about for the enjoyment of some sort of entity on the horizon who filled the sky with dark colours and dragons of smoke. The little crystals fell from the sky and the creatures kept playing because the moment they stopped, the sky became cracked and the entity's rage exploded as the valley was lit up with blinding light and it commanded them to, once more, shake the land.

But it never concerned the children like it did the adults or the youths because they felt safe in the arms of the loved ones around them and that was that.

That next morning, Lavi walked the streets to find that that owner of the hotel had died mysteriously at the break of dawn, just as the rays of sunlight broke through his windows.

He wanted to ask Allen about it. He really should have.


	7. July

(I'm so sorry for not updating! I really really really needed to get back in focus! I lost inspiration! But I'm back! I am still alive and well and God is still good! Anyways, I own nothing and I hope you enjoy! Good day and God bless!)

Baby blue and crystal clear skies turned to peach and Sakura because none can stop the passage of time, never truly.

But even as the dying sun soaked the horizon with golden light, the storm still raged and none were safe.

The waves crashed up against the stone that walked it in, temporarily fogging up the air. After continual years of the same blasted storm, the signs of erosion were rigid and unnaturally recent with rocks falling into the ocean whenever their roots became too weak. The sound bordered on melodic.

The sea air was neither chilled nor warm, but cooling upon the rather humid land it rushed through. The winds riled up the tall and unusual foliage rooted just around the beach like a fence. It tore violently at the violet branches of a single wysteria placed completely out of place just a few distance away from the beach.

It was old, the bark was sharp and dry but it was sturdy. Sturdy enough to let little Allen rest in its branches, at least.

The boy rested his back against the branches, his hands strenched above his head in relaxation and his drowsy eyes drawn to the fading sunset and the black churning storm clouds that ruined the perfectly beautiful scene.

He could not deny how wonderfully the violet flower petals went with the pink tainted skies but there were not many things as naturally distressing to mankind as the sight of a storm such as this.

And there was nothing more hopeless than a storm with no promise of ending.

It made it very hard to want to stay around.

"Never stops….." He whispered so very softly "The storm…."

He lifted his hand to block the sunlight from his eyes or maybe just to see if he could reach the vivid illusion.

The red moss had gotten worse.

He had practicly lost all sight in his left eye and he could no longer feel the cold air on his red hand.

This adventure so fun, so much fun that it made his heart hurt but it could be shattered so easily when it caught to him and he remembered.

Allen was dying and no tears or complaints could stop it.

It still remained a mystery why he couldn't seem to stop.

He cast another glance to the small and silent town his wysteria tree overlooked.

Even when the summer sun beat down on the dry soils of Nõl and the famine ate what little the people had, even then, the storm still raged over the violent sea waters.

Nõl was a small town by the beach that once made a healthy fortune from it's cheap ports, it's native pink clams and the beautiful pearl jewelry second to none. All the adults around this area knew of its past riches.

Now it's pale buildings and docks stood bleached and broken like porcelain because Nõl was now a ghost town were only the very poor or the loyal elderly lived.

It was said by the locals that it happened about sixteen years ago.

The time witch Miranda cursed this sea in her rage so that the storm would never end.

It's unsure who committed the crime but someone had thrown her child into the ocean. She didn't know who to blame so she punished the whole city by ridding it of its one source of income.

It's said that when the valley rains, it's because of her tears and when there is a good day, it's because Miranda hears the sound of a crying baby and she remembers the love she held for her own.

Now the town is all but gone and Nõl has been erased from history.

Allen now knew what it was about this grand storm that, rather than angry, felt so very sorrowful.

Rather than dooming, the dark and ever gathering storm clouds felt like the inability to rid oneself of a looking despair.

In one way, he felt sorrow for Miranda and in many ways he related to her.

If only the storm wasn't far too dangerous to traverse then he might be able to tell her just that.

It does things to you to be alone to long.

Allen knew just that. All he knew was the vastness of his father's house and he knew nothing of the world beyond. He knew nothing of pain, nothing of sorrow and certainly nothing of true happiness, not after Mana left.

There was so much he did not understand but he knew he would not survive to see it all. He knew it had to end but he did not want it to.

But did the pain and regret make it worth it in the end or did it all fall apart?

That's when Allen heard an unnatural rustling in the distance. It was not a valley animal, it was far too large.

His immediate assumption was a centaur. Those bloody nuisances seemed awfully fond of harassing random passerbys or so he heard in the reports.

He pushed himself up and jerked his head around to see who approached him so fearlessly only to be immediately disappointed.

Roaming through the unusually tall grass like a child who had never seen grass before was none other than his, since yesterday, previous traveling partner and guide, Lavi Bookman looking as sleep deprived as ever.

At first he wanted to be excited and happy to see him again but then the spurred emotion turned sour at the source and was immediately discarded.

He made it quite clear he no longer wanted to lead someone as useless and clueless as himself to his destination. Allen knew this.

He assumed that the dormouse had just come to tell at him some more like yesterday wasn't enough. Not to mention that that was the true reason he ended up in this beautiful tree that offered little shelter from the storm.

He tried to glare at him but found it difficult with only one functional eye.

Lavi pushed his way through the landscape, visibly exhausted from who knows what. He was dressed in his casual and only change of clothing that he picked up a few months back. He had his hatchet in its usual bag on his back but he also had a sack Allen had never seen before slung over his right shoulder.

By the way he was walking, he knew it must have been quite heavy.

Allen immediately wondered what sort of heavy device was in the bag.

He may not have known alot in his rather sheltered I've but he knew full well what dangerous men liked to do with heavy objects.

But, Lavi wasn't dangerous, right? He may have shouted out him and told him how he really felt but surely he wouldn't do this, right?

Why wouldn't he just use his hatchet?

Did he think he wasn't worth that?

Surely he wouldn't-

And as his nervous thoughts became more and more abstract, Lavi stopped at the foot of the tree, silent as the grave Allen thought he dug for himself.

But then he looked up, despite the fact that the flowers practically concealed Allen's appearance completely and began to speak like nothing had even happened.

"Were you….." He breathed heavily like he had ran here "Were you…..here the whole time?!"

Allen took a moment to process what he just heard.

"I looked all over town!" He panted "I thought you ran off and you were just sitting here the whole time?!"

Allen didn't know what to say or what he really meant by the accusation so he just mustered up a single "….Yes?"

That was satisfactory to Lavi who then sat himself down at the foot of the tree, his legs crossed comfortably and set the bag down at his side.

"I guess I should be thankful… Except," In one brief moment, he reached into the bag and pulled out a single crimson apple, immediately calming Allen's nerves "I had to carry all this by myself. It wasn't hard it was just a bit heavy."

And he continued.

"You know what was really heavy, however? The drug that barmaid put in my drink that night. That was the worst. It was almost enough to make me want to quit alcohol all together. Whatever it was, it made me really feverish and irritable, you know."

It was when Allen recalled the taste of apples that he began to salivate, much to his dismay. He was not a wild animal, he was a human being.

But over the buzz of his churning stomach, he could hardly hear himself think, much less focus on what Lavi was saying to him.

"I should not have yelled at you, Allen." He said regretfully as he shook his head "I'm really sorry, little buddy. I know alcohol isn't an excuse, but I really didn't mean it. I was just irritated about some stupid buisness."

It was the way he said it that caught him by surprise.

He sounded sad. Really sad.

Even if he was slightly bitter towards him, he didn't want him to be sad. Lavi didn't do anything wrong to be sad about.

Now that Allen really thought about it, he was just a bit startled. He had never been yelled at by someone he knew. No one had even raised their voice, knowing that he was mute, not deaf.

In all honesty, Allen was actually in the wrong. The loss of half his sight had him bumping over and tripping on things like he was a new born fawn covered with blue pine needles.

But it made his heart hurt to hear him talk this way. He guessed he couldn't just stop caring for someone at the click of a hand.

He would say that he was sorry, to and hope that it all disappeared into a wonderous stream of beautiful memories but he really did not know how, in the end.

"You don't have to believe me…." Said Lavi, his voice soft like the wind that russled his red hair "You don't have to believe me but, at least," He reached into his bag and pulled out a dull but juicy pear to match his apple "You can eat. It's really not good for your health to sulk in a tree. Here, catch."

He got to his feet.

Just as he tossed his pear up into the air above, thunder cracked violently in the distance but that hardly distracted Allen from the pear that appeared in his vision. He dove forward and caught it in his hands like a predator catching his prey.

The dormouse was not surprised when he gets a little bit of pear juice rain overhead as the boy devoured it hungrily and humorously happily.

Lavi stiffled a chuckle.

But it was not a moment later when there was a small sound when the seeds and stem hit the ground and a thin hand emerged from the branches and began clawing in the direction of the sack with the rest of the food, grunting in annoyance when he failed.

Allen, to, could not help but laugh a little. All the air of friendship returning like nothing happened, he could not believe he thought Lavi brought some sort of weapon to hurt him with.

What a humourous thought fears were with time like the peace after a storm.

But Lavi pulled the bag further away from his grasp and, just as he pushed forward once more, took firm hold of the wrist of his good hand, but not tight enough to hurt him.

Allen squawked in surprise as he was yanked forward just a bit further, his face now pressed against the dry branches, a rather uncomfortable position but not enough to splinter.

However, he was scared for one brief moment as Lavi just looked at him, more specifically his eyes.

For just a moment, they were both silent.

But Lavi didn't need to speak like he did. His expression spoke for him easily enough.

"Question." He asked clearly and carefully "Did you stay in this tree all night because you can't climb out?"

And there it was.

On the more humourous side of things, Lavi's weapon of choice had been a sort of hammer so it only made sense that he'd hit the hammer on the head.

It was just enough to defuse the drama of the situation.

So, he offered him a curt nod.

"And you're eye?"

And another nod.

Somehow, it felt much less bad when described to him in words by another. It seemed like running from a creature only to find it was a kitten following him, mewing for her mother and hungry for just one bit of food.

Was it death that frightened him or was it the fear of dying alone?

He refused to believe he was being overdramatic about something like his imminent death on the peach and Sakura horizon, but the idea of being fussed over into nightfall for it was suddenly not so appealing.

Wouldn't that really make him a useless person no one wanted to travel with? He feared as much and began to pull his hand from the other, suddenly feeling akward and shy about his predicament.

"Calm down." Lavi scolded softly.

None the less he struggled but did not succeed at all. With his left hand numb and less strong than he would like to push on things for leverage, he could hardly escape. None the less, he tried.

"Just calm down before you hurt yourself."

"No….."

"Stop it."

"Nooo…."

So Lavi, seeing that he would hurt himself if he didn't stop, let go as well as he could and his companion stumbled back a short ways.

There was a silence and then he groaned abruptly in irritation.

Now it was Lavi's turn to taste guilt. He probably should have been softer and shouldn't have forced him so much.

For that short while, it seemed as though the storm on the horizon was quiet and all was at peace.

Of course this peace was abruptly broken when Lavi threw something else. The sack of food.

It shook the branches quite a bit and Allen no less but as soon as he saw it all in all the glory good food held to a hungry person, he kept on his own with joy and dove towards the bag.

Only, he was stopped.

Lavi pulled himself onto the branches and into the trees fragile shelter.

Immediately Allen began to worry about the weight only to find that, for some odd reason, Lavi was alot lighter than he seemed and posed no threat at all.

The flowered tree began to snow violet petals from the commotion.

It was really quite beautiful.

But that wasn't really why Allen had taken a sudden interest in it.

He shivered lightly as a breeze brushed passed.

A warm hand landed on his shoulder.

"I really am sorry, you know. I know it means nothing, but I am. I'm sure we'll find a way to fix it."

"But, until then, we'll get to wear excellent matching eyepatchs and everyone will think we're thieves."

"Don't worry about it. I know a place."

And so the two slept in the completely free and rather beautiful inn they found through hardship.

The pale crescent moon now shown through the clouds, it's how blanketed.

Now listen.

Just as day comes, every storm shall end in due time, even if it should seem hopeless and men cry that all is no more.

All has a purpose and you may see it if you look just a bit closer.


	8. August

((Hello again! I am so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so sorry for not updating sooner! I was super busy with some original works for my sisters and I just really wanted to do some other stuff but this work is not abandoned yet! I probably got Chomesukes character so wrong and the chapter is very badly done but I really did try! I'm really sorry about that! Anyways, I own nothing and I hope you enjoy! Good day and a God bless!)

Chomesuke was never one for the tight waisted, plainly colored and uncomfortable dresses of high living.

Luxery were and pleasantries were always fun and she was very greatful to her master for gifting them to her but here was a point were you no longer felt like a human.

She was dying day by day in wonderland and she hardly knew why.

Luckily, her sisters were always good friends on the subject.

They were supportive of her desire to leave and said that she could take all the time she needed just as long as she promised to return one day.

She did not tell her master. She regret that but she knew he'd forgive her. He was a good master like that.

But even now, looking back on it all, she had no idea how those events led her to moving to the slums of Underland, the most crime ridden and poor land on the continent.

But she supposed regretting this incredibly difficult lifestyle as a poor farmer girl would do nothing a and it had its charms.

She certainly ground it far more romantic than the life as an imperial witch but as budgets became tighter, it was steadily becoming harder to conceal identity to the general public.

Here in Underland, the people were rude, meisters were everywhere they could possibly be because of the pollution and the mud during this time of year was do deep, you could meet your end in it.

But it wasn't all bad. When she awoke at dawn, the sugary scent of her room never failed to make her cheerful and the fresh air always became jittery and gpclean to greet the imperial witch of space, making her feel confortable and welcome.

Chomesuke really tried to enjoy life her to the fullest but a diet of only mud mud radishes, sasquatch plums and carrots extremely difficult.

Of course, with the right herbs, Chomesuke could make even the most boring of meals interesting.

But that's what being a farmer meant.

She rose at dawn, put on her apron and stilts and set out to farm the mud plants from her small six acre field by hand.

Stilts were necvisaary because of the mud and no one could ever hope to farm without them.

In her hands, she had an extensive metal grabber and a rake.

Singing a familiar lullaby to herself, she raked the crusty layer of dried mud away from her radishes, her plums and her carrots.

"Dawn breaks on your silver wings….."

"Shiny feathers sheem…"

"You sleep on silver lining days…"

"The sound of your heart….. is a song…"

Once they were free, she grabbed the root with her extensive grabber and pulled it from the ground, afterwards abruptly dropping it on her porch to be sorted and cleaned.

"These wings could take you anywhere…."

"You could be whatever you chose….."

"You've felt the highest mountain top…. "

"Felt the sand in your fingers and toes….."

By the time she was done raking her eight yard garden, it was a few hours before noon.

She found it a bit odd because normally even the most late risers were awake at this time, making whatever odd groaning sounds they could to make Chomesuke feel a little less alone and all the meisters begged all along the streets but this seemingly normal morning, the whole town was utterly silent.

When she looked around, she could see no motion, no sign of life except for the wind russling the dead blades of grass that peaked above the hills of mud around her, almost as though it was trying to tell her that it was there.

"Where on earth…..?" She wondered to herself a horrifying thought, that all the meisters had simultaneously passed away in the same night and, for some reason or another, she awoke during the moment of silence commonly held for the dead here.

But that was simply too unlikely. Who holds a moment of silence for several hours and before the funeral, no less?

And she had nothing to worry about as she never did. It was just a silent morning, that was all.

That was, of course, until the silence was broken.

"No offense but your song is really beautiful."

Her heart leapt in her chest out of fear and she began to twist and turn her body around frantically in search of the voices owner, all the while remembering all the times that men had attacked her and her sisters for reasons she could never understand. She knew they could never truly hurt any of them but it still frightened her so so much.

But one mistake after another, she had completely forgotten about the stilts she still stood on and, before her mind could possibly comprehend what happened, began to fall.

She clawed at the air and it did it's best to carry her to safety but only managed to change her path to the ground a little to the right.

It was alright, though. The squishy mud provided a soft landing aside from the uncomfortable smack against the wet substance. She screamed anyway.

It wasn't a cry of fear or even anger. She was distressed knowing just how hard it was going to be to get her clothing clean being how poor the water was or to get herself out of the mud she was slowly sinking into.

"Uggh…." She groaned as she tried to sit up but failed "Oh dear….."

But yet another sound silenced her but this time, it came with visual aid.

A young man came into view. She sad young because the youth had not yet been stifled from his features. His hair was a vibrant and fire like red and his eyes were a healthy green. Despite the leather eyepatch on his right eye that would imply some damage to it, Chomesuke did not think he looked like he had seen a day of battle or hardship.

This led her to an assumption that she just had to ask no matter how inappropriate.

"Sir," She breathed "Are you a robber?"

He chuckled, his laughter musical. He thought that was funny.

Somehow, that frightened her more than it should.

He quickly scanned the horizon as though he was wary of others.

"It's this, isn't it." He replied as he pointed to his eyepatch "No. I'm not a robber-"

"A robber would say that."

His one visible eye narrowed "But I can tell you surely that I'm no robber.".

"Then what are you? An assassin? A street thief?"

He rose an eyebrow at her accusations. He seemed to understand her scepticness but he still found it a bother.

"A dormouse."

"Ah, that's the worst..."

"It's rude not to introduce yourself first, you know."

Chomesuke groaned. The mud was only becoming deeper hand it was starting to itch like a rash would. She despised the feeling and began to wonder if being cautious with this stranger was worth it.

What if he left her behind and she died a slow and painful death her in the mud? It wasn't as though the silent streets had anyone to help her.

"Well," She sighed, trying to keep her breathing under control "If you are not a villian, could I request your help out of this mud?"

He went completely silent and still. He glanced at the mud she was stuck in and then pointed to it like he was questioning whether or not she was actually stuck.

Chomesuke on the other hand just had to question his mental health.

"Yes, this mud." She assured him "Is that even a question?"

"Don't ask me?" He shrugged "You were the girl running through the mud on stilts this early in the morning...-"

"I was farming!"

He reached down yo take hold of her hand and quickly pulled her full arm free.

"Yah yah," He said with a cocky smirk that she knew meant nothing but trouble "My names Lavi. What's yours, sweetheart?"

She could not be help but scoff. Chomesuke could not believe that she was being flirted with so soon into their meeting and when she still found him a suspicious individual.

He may have been dashing, he may have been cute and he may have been charming but that was no excuse for her to let her guard down.

As her body was pulled up, she caught a glimpse of his boots. Slick rubber boots meant to resist the mud. He clearly came prepaired so she could not think too harshly of him.

"Chomesuke..." She caved at last.

Lavi lifted her to a stand and then lowered his hand to her shoulders. He placed his other arm behind her knees and quickly lifted her off the ground with ease, almost shockingly so.

"Chomesuke..." Lavi said her name like he was taste testing a pastry of some sort but he quickly smiled approvingly "It's a cute name. I like it."

She scoffed lightly as she knew that already. She wouldn't have kept the name of it wasn't. She thanked him for a number of things anyway and called his name cute, to.

"So," He began as he stepped over her twisted and coiled barbed wire fence "I hope you don't mind a dormouse like me asking but what's a foreign girl like you doing in the rock bottom?"

"I... I'm not at rock bottom. I'm really just a farmer of my own accord."

"Your own accord, huh." He scoffed "Who would choose to live like this?"

"I did and you have now right to talk, dormouse."

"Heh, I guess I don't."

There was a silence but she broke it when she felt surprisingly guilty for her words.

"U-uh..." She began shyly "I didn't mean... Thank you again for helping me..."

"It a pleasure," He replied "You may not know it, but I am a gentleman."

The comment made her think back. She didn't recall any of the gentlemen in Wonderland ever helping her for a single thing. She only helped them and that was the extent of their relationship.

This kindness she did not feel had any double meaning. Yes, he was male and most males around lovely women like herself had their thoughts but she did not feel anything but genuine kindness and safety.

Perhaps being a gentleman had nothing to with statis in scocieties and much more of what was in the heart and how they made those around them feel.

"And good one at that..." She muttered softly, feeling the stress in her body melt away.

"I heard that," He chuckled "That's strike one."

"Strike one?!"

"That's right, I'm counting."

"You are a weird one."

"I could say the same to you, sweetheart."

When he set her down on her patio soft as a birds feather hitting the ground, she was almost disappointed. This was the longest conversation she had with anyone for a while now and the most enjoyable by far but she knew that when he fulfilled her request, he'd have to leave and she didn't wasn't that quite yet.

"Well," He breathed lightly "That was fun but I hope you shan't do it again."

"I will tomorrow and probably all the days after that." She replied as she knelt before her cauldron of steaming water and washed what she could clean and ripped off what she couldn't, leaving the day chunks of mud by her vegetables "That's just how life is here."

"I see." He smirked as he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Where do you reside, anyway?" Chomesuke asked suddenly.

"What?" He seemed surprised by the question.

"I haven't seen you around her." She explained "I thought I knew everyone but I guess I was wrong."

"I don't."

"What?"

He raised his gloved hand to point to the south in familiarity where the sun was still fresh and the clouds still few, where rolling hills of dry grass abounded and the pollution was seemingly nowhere to be seen.

"I'm from far far south on the other side of the continent. This is my first time in Underland actually. I only came because of a client."

"A client."

"A kid from my hometown hired me with every cent he had on him to take him across the continent. The kid could never keep a map straight so I thought I'd help him out. I was actually looking for some mud plants for him just now and that's how I came across you."

At that, Chomesuke laughed but under that, she was actually quite impressed. Not just with Lavi but also with his client, whoever he was. It took a lot of bravery to leave ones home and venture into the unknown. She knew that to be utterly true.

The story was so odd, she almost believed it not to be true for a moment.

"And what reason could your client possibly have for coming here?" She asked more sarcastically than she would have liked.

Luckily, he hardly noticed and continued with a smile.

"My client," He said with a hint of almost bittersweet on his tone "He's a meister."

"Oh..."

"So," He finally said "He has to make it to Wonderland by December. Kings orders or something, you know."

And there it was. The truth was lain on the floor for all to see and judge.

Just like that. Just like a breath of fresh morning air or a drink of the morning dew.

Suddenly, things in Chomesukes mind began to click and fit into place like a chemical compound or a long stream of black dominos sent into a chain reaction by the merest touch of a finger.

It was a weak and strong reaction to such a sickly idea and in that brief moment, every particle in Chomesuke was shaken but the only thing she could utter was this.

"...What?"

"Uh, are you well?" Lavi scratched his cheek "You look a little pale..."

It was almost a laughable matter because he did not, could not possibly know what his words meant to her. She tried but failed to cones like the fear in her voice as she dared to ask;

"His majesty, King Yaeger, has ordered meisters to go to Wonderland?"

"Well... Well, yah." Lavi replied as he stretched his arms "Most meisters get written invitations like my client because he lived far away but people closer to the country get taken by scouts. I think one came here late last night, actually..."

"Last night?!" Chomesuke had long abandoned her pot of water and the mud on her clothing. She had almost entirely forgotten it as she leapt up, took hold of his hand and questioned Lavi with such an intensity that he'd think she was going to war with somebody.

"Yah..."

"Is that where everybody in town went?!"

"...Yah?"

At the final confirmation, she lost strength in his knees and they hit the patron floor. She just sat there silently, not particularly looking at anything and Lavi was getting a bit Chomesuke hardly heard him. Her mind was elsewhere, hearing, smelling and seeing other things. Hearing the sound of men and women, children and elderly screaming till their lungs might get ripped to shreds; smelling the scent of babies, the scent of blood, the scent of bodily fluids spilled on the ground till it might flood the streets; Seeing hundreds of human beings gathered to the podium and slaughtered like animals for the sake of power and wealth.

It was so long ago, going on five years ago now and, till this moment, she actually never realized that it bothered her so much.

On top of guilt for what she had done, she also harborred guilt for feeling it. She practically betrayed her master, her family.

But surely.

Surely her master wouldn't do this.

Surely one was enough.

Surely one had enough energy.

Surely grappling one caused enough damage.

Surely he didn't need to do it again.

Surely.

But as she ran through all the facts, it all added up.

Only a desire from her master would get an official message from the king himself. He was a very powerful and influential man.

Meisters took up a healthy portion of the continents population; A good twenty thousand in estimation.

That would be more than enough.

Her hands stilled and her skin turned cold.

He was going to do it again.

Suspicions now turned to fact like wood turns to stone in time and it was engraved in her mind now. She couldn't do it again. She was weak, yes, but she could not do it again.

She was still.

She looked to her left and just remembered that she had been talking with someone. A young man named Lavi who had helped her out of the mud this morning. He was talking with her but she somehow hadn't heard a word. Her looked rather concerned.

"Come on, say some-"

"You can't go to Wonderland."

Her voice was abrupt and clear. She was commanding him to do this. She was not suggesting it nor was it a jest. Even the air around her turned cold and sharp.

She was completely serious and Lavi took a step backwards.

"What?" He asked "Why?"

"You can't go because-b-because-!"

Her words were caught in her throat despite how much she wanted to scream them at him. It was a secret she had to keep no matter what but how else was he going to believe her?

She could not betray her master and her sisters but surely, surely she should not let them journey to certain demise.

She was hesitant.

"Why can't I?"

But it was at that moment that Chomesuke got an idea, one that was rather unlike her.

She missed her sisters lullabies. No other music ever seemed to bring her to sleep or hold such importance to her heart. It was as different as cake and rocks and she was beginning to miss the cake more than anything.

Perhaps it was time that visited her sisters once again. What harm could it do, anyway.

"No." She said, the air around her now turning soft and sweet like sugar as she looked Lavi in the eye "I would fancy a trip there myself. Would you mind if I tagged along?"


	9. September

(So so very busy. Hello again! Breaking addictions is so very hard. Currently casually rocking to n'sync. My family is getting sick again. Very stressed. Must leave to happy place. On that note a God is still good and life is still worth living! Anyways, I own nothing and I hope you enjoy! Good day and God bless!)

You may not know this as the map of Underland is not something easily found but a whiles journey from the cold and uncaring slums and a small distance from the lifeless grasslands after that is possibly one of the nicest, smallest and most soft hearted farmhouses you could ever dream to come across.

A trusting little wood cottage still standing tall despite being worn down by the cruel passage of time. No rooms yet plenty of breathing space and all that came across were welcomed with open arms.

Be it raining and thunder roaring overhead or should snowfall stand in your way, leaving your journey postponed for another day, a warm bed and warm fire were there to give you, a wary traveler, comfort.

It's a place built on love, surely.

"Should we not take off our shoes?" Enquired Chomesuke, her skirt wet and filthy, who followed the boys in last, thinking that if there was danger, they should take the blow "It seems so rude not to."

Lavi was resting by the empty fireplace with Allen huddled close by all the while muttering about her unusual traditions.

Taking that as a yes, she let her rope sandals sit beside the door.

When her bare feet touched the smooth and cold floor, she shuttered. It was a feeling like when newly dried fingers touch dry paper or when wood scratches together. A sort of seizure of the muscles.

After a day of walking through uncharted lands; Endless forests of skeleton trees and gardens of white rocks; Their bodies ached, blood pulsing heavily in their limbs and skin numbed from the fringed breeze.

Little Allen's limp arm lay comfortably in a silken sling Lavi had provided a few towns before. Chomesuke claimed it was a waste of what could have been sold for money at first but quickly retracted her say because Lavi seemed utterly determined to gift it to his client.

Lavi reached into his coat and pulled from it that mysterious blue flame, an ethereal shard of light and heat that held its place in his hand like a physical object without harming him.

An odd object Chomesuke often inquired of but was never told its origin. It was only ever referred to as Eliza's flame.

With fresh logs inside, Lavi dropped the seemingly harmless flame inside and as soon as it made contact, the logs ignited in a single united blue flame. The small room was filled with fluctuating warmth and light not long after in preparation of the coming nightfall.

Despite being in their company for one mere month, she knew that the two could not remain a mere client and hired navigator after nine months together.

She could see it in everything they did.

They were friends and good ones at that, even if at times it seemed as though they were trying to conceal that from her.

The small light meister could hardly keep his eyes open. His small body was hardly able to withstand the cold and shivered relentless like a reed in the wind. In a desperate attempt for bodily warmth, he let his body fall against Lavi's and he returned the action by pulling him closer.

He whispered nice things to him telling him that he could sleep now and that he would wake up to a freshly cooked cockentrice.

She never had friends or companions she considered dear. Her sisters and her master had been with her since she was very small and when that happened, those around her became less of friends and more pieces of all that made her her. As odd and nonsensical as it may seem, people strive for friendship, a distant and vague connection between them and another human being.

The slighted hint of jealousy she felt inside was just a reminder of how human she still remained.

Companionship was dear. She knew that.

Though she'd never be allowed to hold something like that to her heart, could she not protect it for others?

Was it not her right? Was it not here duty?

She knew this and yet every time an opportunity arose, she pitched it to the next day again and again.

Chomesuke always promised success tomorrow but what would she do when there was not another carefree tomorrow to run to?

Time was running out like sand in an hourglass. She could neither afford them being ignorant or in the know. If she knew that killing them here and now would save them from such a wretched and meaningless fate, she'd do it without a second thought and yet here she was; her legs limp, her hands useless and she could hardly find it in herself to keep her eyes open a moment longer.

She guessed it didn't matter too much.

She sank into slumber knowing that there was always tomorrow.

The crescent moon made its brave journey across the nightly sky. Every creature in nature rested their weary head to dream of better times till the sun came in tow; liquid gold shielded by dark colossal rain clouds illuminated what it could of the desolate landscape.

A heavy rainfall was coming upon this not so peaceful morning. Lightning was coming to illuminate what the sun couldn't and thunder was coming swift to shake the foundations of all that was serene.

After a long and soothing dream of soothing his hunger, Allen awoke to this chaotic and damp scene.

The wooden flaps of the few Windows seemed to be thrown back and forth like a bird taking flight. The wind tore at the trees, making an awful noise like a creature dragging its talons across stone over and over. The air smelt of grass, an unsettling smell of several plants getting torn up from the roots.

His sweat covered body lay on the ground with a cloak under his head acting as a pillow.

He knew that Lavi had set him down like this since the cloak was his to begin with but the moment he opened his eyes, Allen knew he was alone with a sleeping Chomesuke.

Eliza's flame slipped comfortably into the palm of his hand once he reached for it. The large fire was extinguished, leaving behind the single harmless flame.

Disappointment gathered at the bottom of his stomach like residue in water.

Yes, he longed for the taste of promised cockentrice but the boy had grown hopeful briefly that since Chomesuke lay sound asleep in the corner of the cabin, he'd be able to spend time with Lavi as he usually did before she came along.

He had never known before but apparently when you and your friends become acquainted with a stranger, you must hold the illusion of polite etiquette and social perfection.

Allen was always open to learning the traditions of this vast wide world but it just seemed plain silly that in order to seem presentable, he must alienate his friend like they hardly knew each other.

He missed talking openly and comfortably even if he couldn't do much of it.

He was hardly a child anymore, being fourteen years of age and he knew it was childish to want fun things like skipping rocks, conversations about the strangest matters, mud sculptures, collecting firewood with a friend and the like but his desire did not change. It was just far too boring for him to handle sometimes.

He blamed Chomesuke, even though he knew he shouldn't. Etiquette was accepted as law throughout humanity and he could nothing to change that.

The rain pounded against the ground like a stampede of wild animals. Just enough to be dangerous but not enough to flood.

Allen pulled his knees up against his chest tightly, wary of the thunder that was to come.

He despised thunder.

He despised thunder so so very much.

The silence after a single bright flash in the sky shook him up far more than the thunder that was to come. He was like a single thread and every moment of silence tightened him up and made him more anxious. He shivered from fear, hunger and the cold.

And it was in that moment that a sound occurred entirely unexpected; a whine of hinges, a door opening.

Despite being slight, the sound might as well have been a volcanic eruption in Allens chest as he jumped in fright and screeched in fear; a horrible and almost animalistic cry for help leaving his lips.

He bent his body around in a weak defensive position to see just what had come only for his good eye to catch a glimpse of very recognizable red hair soaked in the doorway.

"Lavi…" He whispered to himself, instantly relieved to see him and not something else.

His guide stood unsteadily, his whole form soaked with heavy rainfall. Over his shoulder, he had slung what a very hungry Allen instantly recognized as a large, fat, four foot long cockentrice.

The creature resembled an average rooster in a number of ways, only about twenty times larger and four legs instead of two. In Allens opinion, the meat was infinitely superior, to.

He almost didn't believe his eyes, knowing that the water foxes were native in this area and could take the form of whatever they thought would best suit their hunt.

A chill ran over him until, at long last, Lavi spoke, looking quite surprised that the light meister was up just an hour after dawn.

"Quiet." He said with a finger over his lips "You'll wake up Chomesuke."

That was proof enough. Water foxes didn't have voices.

Food could be cook easily with Eliza's flame. All that mattered was that it was dry and could be ignited. Almost as though it had a mind of its own, it never burnt anything and only cooked edible things till they were healthy to eat.

Plucking feathers was always full, especially when you could use them as a fresh pillow for the next night.

The scent of sweet freshly cooked meat was always a pleasing one.

It occurred to Allen that all his anxiety and boredom seemed to fade into the background of a friendly silence along with that awful thunder he despised so much.

Despite having not made his opinion known, he still felt quite silly for feeling impatient for something that was just moments away.

That didn't mean that he wasn't content with what he got, though.

No words needed to be said.

The cold seemed rather pleasant, almost funny in a way.

It was only when Lavi had eaten that he spoke again with a calm glance towards the woman still sound asleep in the corner of the room. His one green eye remained evidently wary and unsure but Allen didn't need to enquirer why.

"I think.." He said in a hushed tone "I think she is an Aero meister."

The term instantly caught Allen's attention.

"Wind?" He asked intuitively through a mouthful of bird meat.

"I don't know." Lavi replied awkwardly, shifting in his place on the squeaky floorboards "I just… Aero meisters control air, right?"

"No." Allen shook his head "Wind."

The most well known symptom in a meister of any sort was the access and instability of any element in nature.

Flame meisters became feverish weak people with no control over the ability to create flames from nothing.

Water meisters became dry stiff people who steal water from the bodies of things around them to live, for the most part committing mass genocide. Forever thirsty, lakes and rivers will dry up only to flood the ground when they lose control.

Earth meisters became ugly monstrous people known for causing misfortune and earthquakes wherever they stood. Crops fail, animals and even people are choked out by their weeds and landslides are known to occur when they lose their temper.

Enough is already known of the light meisters.

Lastly there is the Areo meister who control wind as Allen had stated. The access wind and power at their disposal would form tornadoes in the country and cyclones in the ocean, resulting in monstrous waves that could wash a whole town off the map.

Their sickness causes access wind but has nothing to do with the air itself.

"Yesterday," Lavi began, feeling unsure "I was hunting, remember?"

Allen nodded while swallowing his food.

"There was this Raven in the trees." He explained "I was watching but I don't think she knew. She suffocated it without even touching it."

The light meister visibly flinched.

"It tried to breath but it couldn't. It hit the ground and struggled to breath. It died there when she just looked at it."

"Meister can't." Allen insisted.

"I know." Lavi reassured him, casting another look to their female companion "It would explain why she wishes to go to Wonderland but you'd think she'd be showing a symptom."

It was true. She seemed to be in perfect health.

"Soft hands." Allen said as he took another bite the bird he had beside him "Not a farmer."

"Yah, I thought so."

A silence fell over the room. It was a bitter silence, knowing that they would soon have to say goodbye to their suspicious one month traveling companion.

There was certainly something very odd about her and neither were sure they really wanted a part of it.

"It's a shame though. She's really cute."

"Lavi."

"What?"

The storm continued for only a few hours more but something very sinister was definitely upon their once pure horizon.


	10. October

( _ **I own nothing and I hope you enjoy and don't kill me for never updating and I hope this brings a smile to your face and I'm really really really sorry. Nonetheless, their journey to Wonderland is coming to a close and I am excited! Summer is coming and the first month or so, I'll be doing GED but the rest will be free and I'll Try to finish this fanfiction in that time should God will it! Even though this chapter is trash, I'm kind of happy with how it turned out. Once again, I am so sorry and I hope you enjoy! Good day and God bless!)**_

One of Allen's first memories was one of his most treasured.

It was when his father gifted him with the beloved fur coat he had worn almost every day since. It was the pelt of a colossal white bear his father had slain since his father had been raised a hunter and lived as one for most of his life.

He could have kept the pelt as a trophy, something he'd leave in a room for safe keeping never to be touched in the years to come, but he didn't. He made it into a coat and gifted it to Allen.

"You are my treasure." Those kind words would haunt Allen's dreams for the years to come.

He had minimal contact with other people because of the pathogen. He had hardly even said a word to anyone other than his father until he was about ten years old. He didn't know how to properly converse until much much later.

Because of the seclusion, his father became his whole world and all he really lived for. His beloved father who, if he added up every moment he spent with him, only knew for a few days was all he had and knew he could have. His father was all that was good and nothing else could ever compare.

When he left him alone, when his father left him for some long journey to Wonderland, his world was gone. Nothing was left in his heart but this sad empty abyss that, he never quite graded it, longed for death's sweet embrace.

That's s why the royal decree was a shining ray of hope for the young and naive little light meister. It gave him enough courage to speak to another human being, much more, a scary but strong looking dormouse.

That's why, when he started this long long journey, he wanted to get to Wonderland as soon as possible. His life was slipping through his fingers like sand and all he wanted was to see his father one last time.

Every shortcut was demanded and every extra mile in the dead of Alan exhausted night was a necessity. Looking back upon those times, he was probably very rude. His payment to his guide may have been immense and all he had to his name but nothing could make up for pushing Lavi so hard.

He was only human, after all.

Allen liked to think he had matured since then.

No matter how hard you push a journey, whether a you walk or run, the same amount of energy and time is expanded and impatience will do nothing but hinder you.

Rest is always necessary. Yes, time is spent but without sleep, he and Lavi would surely die of exhaustion and then they would never find their way to Wonderland.

Every shortcut comes with a price. The long road is easy but the short road is hard..

And lastly, what is best is not always the easiest.

It was only with Lavi that he learned all these lessons and they were oddly beautiful. They were like different shades of red in a normally plain world.

Chomesuke's company was something that would be missed. For all her faults, she was a nice girl but that didn't change the fact that she was a witch. Lavi confronted her about it and, after a long time, she finally confessed that she was, in fact a witch that specialized in the distortion of space.

Lavi tried to tell her that perhaps it was because she grew up in a land where witchcraft was an acceptable practice but it was far from the same in their hometown. Lavi himself had seen the damage that witchcraft could do and joined in on a fair share of the witch hunts held in the region. He told her that he could not let her travel with them any longer simply because of the damage he knew witchcraft to be capable of.

It was because of Allen's naïveté that he didn't know why magic was so feared or why it made him sad the Chomesuke had to go. He wished he could have known the true nature of magic so that he would have been able to see why Lavi looked so angry and disgusted when he spoke of it.

Lavi had seen things that Allen never had. He had seen horrible things that made making hard decisions bearable.

Allen wished he could have seen what Lavi had and felt what he felt so he could understand. In some ways, he was envious of how Lavi could be so lighthearted and yet so mature at the same time. In others, he felt sad because of how little he truly knew Lavi and all he had been through.

The light meister, up until this point, had never really seen hardships in this light.

Actually, he hadn't really seen much of anything.

The town of Rāu was a small river town full of people who did not take very kindly to outsiders unless they had money.

Winter was coming so the crops were dying and the river was freezing over faster than the citizens would like.

It did not take long for them to discover that their only source of income would come from mining and the annual Wounded Earth display.

The Wounded Earth display was simply twin geysers in the area that only burst every five years or so. The unusual part was not that but the fact that the geysers shot red water, or so Lavi heard. Some minerals in the ground turned it red and gave the water a sort of salty flavor. It was apparently a great source of pride for the citizens and they; The mayor, his wife, his children, ect.; utterly insisted that Lavi and Allen stay to see the grand spectacle.

Allen, who was really quite sure it was a scam of some sort, wanted nothing to do with it and, on reflex, wished to hurry to Wonderland.

But glancing over, he soon saw a glint of curiosity and excitement in the one good eye of the friend that stood beside him. Lavi appeared genuinely curious because, where he came from, he probably only heard of geysers in stories.

He had seen that look before in the eye of the dormouse when they had passed by popular landmarks or places that gained a reputation all throughout the continent but time and time again, Lavi denied the chance to visit because Allen had been so insistent on hurrying to the father who had abandoned him all those years ago.

Lavi, who never abandoned him for as long as Allen knew him, sacrificed once in a lifetime chances for his sake. Never before had the light master, who was once deemed treasure, felt like such utter trash before.

This was a rare opportunity that only came across every five years and now it was only a few days away.

Allen was hesitant about giving up so much time for something that would only last a few hours and cost them both a good hundred gold coins, a discounted price apparently.

But then a thought came to him.

He never thought about it much, but he was dying, day by day. He never thought about what would happen or what effect it might have on those he held dear, but he did not think he'd live to see the geysers again.

Lavi would, but Allen did not think he had much more than a few months left on this colorful little earth. When he left, he'd be just as without Lavi as Lavi would be without him. They would be dead to each other so, surely he would like to waste another opportunity like this chasing after something he didn't have.

It was then that he realized that he really wanted to see the geysers with Lavi. Even if it wasted time and even if it wasn't as good as they heard, he still wanted to see it.

The a Mayor, his wife and their eldest daughter confronted Lavi for about the fifth time in the last two days, but this time it was in the hotel room that Lavi had purchased for the night.

Lavi packed his bag in preparation to leave, a little exhausted from denying all these offers.

"I'm sorry sir." Began Lavi, preparing to reject the mayor's kind offer yet again "But we have somewhere we need to-"

"The geysers."

The mayor and his family stopped in their tracks because they had no idea who the scratchy little voice belonged to but Lavi just turned to Allen who sat on the bed beside his, knowing that it was he who spoke.

The boys dimmed eyes were turned to the window.

"Where?" He asked as clearly as he could.

There was a silence and Lavi was slightly surprised to say the least. Allen never really showed any interest in landmarks before. He always called them boring and nothing else.

The mayor's wife was the first to speak when she approached Allen in a sort of Motherly fashion.

"Look, dear." She said with a hand on his shoulder and a finger pointed out the window, "You can see it from the window. It's that flat clearing of stone surrounded by those old trees."

Allen spotted it quickly and said with a light smile on his lips "Pretty…"

To be blunt, the woman melted.

She turned to her husband with a flash of determination in her soft blue eyes.

"Do you…" Allen swallowed because it hurt to speak but somehow, it made him appear as though her were on the verge of tears to the elderly couple "I could…. Go?"

The mayor and his eldest daughter stood their ground with making good decisions for business but the look that was flashed their way by a pair of pitiful purple eyes took them down.

On top of his perplexity with his clients sudden interest in geysers of all things, Lavi was a bit confused as how Allen managed to talk his way into a completely free ticket to see the geysers.

The halved price was something he was more than willing to pay and with the extra money, he could purchase some extra potions and supplies for Allen's satchel. He, as much as he didn't want to admit it, needed the mental rest of a few days stay in one place.

And a landmark with no legends about ghosts or curses was certainly a relief. He could hardly stand the mention of supernatural monsters.

Because he wanted to be safe and certainly most definitely not because he was scare.

Lavi was happy he got a chance to see something like this, something so safe and something so new in his plainly colored world but the wasted time concerned him because his friend asked for one thing, the arrival at wonderland and his long lost father but with every precious day wasted, Allen died just that much more.

If Lavi was not able to bring Allen to wonderland in time, he did not think he'd be able to forgive himself.

But hours turned to days and the rather uneventful days drew to a close. The day had come that the party had waited for.

The crowd was not large since the population of the town was not large but one could estimate that a little over the town's population was present on that cloudy evening.

Lavi had joked that the geysers had dried up. No one but him and Allen had laughed.

The awkward silence that filled the air as the crowd waited was almost painful and the dormouse, who never did do well in awkward silences, decided to started a conversation with Allen who sat beside him.

"Why did you want to come?" He asked his friend, "I thought you didn't like national monuments."

Allen looked his way, utterly serious, "You...Like them."

"Well yah."

He then looked back to the geyser sight, "I...don't mind… Then…"

The silence returned and Allen was prepared to endure it but he did not expect Lavi to suddenly throw his arm around his shoulders. He squeaked in shocked but neither Lavi nor the surrounding crowd cared.

"Aw little buddy," Lavi mused "You didn't have to charm the Mayor's wife for my sake!"

The young light meister, slightly flushed, silently struggled in his friend's grasp what the whole crowd that surrounded them resounded in one very loud cheer and the stone underneath them vibrated ever so softly.

When the two opened their eyes, they saw a rather large pillar of blood red mist with a sort of earthy scent bursting from the ground only to be followed by a heavy fountain of water darker and deeper than red. The sunlight shone through it and, for a moment, it had the appearance liquid rubies.

It was quite breathtaking even if the air around them rose in temperature about fourty degrees.

And when the water from both geysers came down, it dyed the normally dry and gray clearing of rock with various shades of Crimson.

The citizens grabbed out bottles to scoop up the steaming water for later use.

Allen wanted to do the same but he had no free glass to use. Nonetheless, he happily clapped and cheered with the rest of the crowd.

Lavi did not because he had been far too distracted by fact that Allen looked far more healthy than the dormouse had seen him look in a long time with a shimmer of light in his violet eyes and a sort of vibrant health in his skin.

At that, Lavi could not help but smile.

It was apparently the first spout of many more to come for the rest of the day.

It was a rather large even but Lavi knew that if they stayed for much longer, the Mayor was sure to make them do something else and pretty soon, they would never leave the village. People like him and his wife could be that way and as nice as they were, Lavi and Allen needed to be somewhere in the next two months.

In the commotion, the two snuck away with their bags thrown over their shoulders, new shoes on their feet and smiles on their faces.

Allen had felt partially cheerful because of the auburn haired young lady he knew to be stalking their journey with good intentions. He would not reveal her presence to Lavi because he was sure he had already noticed, being that his senses were as sharp as a knife blade.

Who was to say what was to come next really.

If only he knew. If only he knew all he reached for was his own demise.

If only he had stayed. If only they had settled.

If only something could have made a difference.

"Hey… Is.. This life...?"

"Hmm.. You know, little buddy, you might on to something there."


	11. -Lions-

(Hehe. Hello everyone. Here's another chapter but it's not a month. It's kinda like a cup of foreshadowing and a glimpse into another point of view you wouldn't be able to see if you were always with Lavi. I hope you don't mind if I drop this here. Anyways, I own nothing and I hope you enjoy. Good day and God bless!)

-it true? Did your kind really bring the pathogen to the continent?"

Lavi had asked the question in private, far away from Allen's sleeping form hidden in the tall grasses. It was a mercy to them both, knowing that this was a truth too disgusting for him to know.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She tried to deny it.

"Did those who practice witchcraft have any hand in this?" He countered immediately like he had planned out her every response.

She despised how he pretended to be a curious bystander, like it didn't matter to him either way when she knew full well what he was truly asking her.

"Did you kill Allen?" Is what he truly wanted to ask her. He wanted to know if she killed his pure little friend long before he could even truly live. She was not stupid enough to be fooled by any of it.

She despised his shielded heart and she despised him for asking this wretched question he knew she had no right to answer.

But that wasn't true, was it. What she truly hated was this.

"Yes. I killed Allen."

It was that every word was true. Every word, every syllable, every sound the human vocal cords were capable of creating, every thought, every inclination, every urge to fracture her skull where she stood was true.

A part of her wanted to defend her honor.

What, did he think she was perfect? Did he truly believe he had come across a gentle hearted foreign princess who had never done a thing wrong in her life? Did he really think she was the one? That he could start some pointless family with her?

Both she and him had been deceived by those they trusted but she could not be blamed for his own naïveté. She could not be blamed for even a single death because, like she had said, they had both been led astray.

He had no right to look at her so hatefully and treat her as though she was a monster when the two of them were so similar.

She thought they were friends and would remain that way no matter what she was or what mistakes marred her very being but she guessed she-

-tasted like salt water but she ate it up anyway.

She never thought she would fit in that small cupboard by the oven. She thought for sure she'd be too large and yet shuf flipped into it with ease like it was a small wooden box made specifically for her.

Now, splinters nibbled at her toes and her mouth was filled with mold. A humid darkness was all around her.

Her bare feet were so sore even if her knees would never give out from under her. A couple of stray tears tickled the tiny white hairs on her cheeks and the dust trapped in her lungs tempted her to choke but she resisted the urge to make any movement or sound whatsoever.

The breeze weaved it's way like a needle and thread through the tears in her skirts and she shivered, having already been trembling so hard she thought she might shatter like glass.

The tips of her fingers ached numbly and she longed to rip them off with her bare teeth like an animal.

Her stomach grumbled angrily because she hadn't eaten or drank a thing all week.

And yet the air tasted of hot boiling blood running through the veins of men and women and she craved it so so fervently.

The only thing she could do to keep herself from leaving this little cupboard in the kitchen of that kind elderly couple that welcomed her into their home and taking by force what would only leave her further unfulfilled was grab her wrists and bury her face in her knees, hoping it would be enough to block out the fumes.

No one, not even the watchers in their high towers, would dare listen to the screams of someone idiotic enough to stay out after nightfall. She had been warned time and time again but she did not listen, not even once, thinking that her hands would be still enough to command the winds and her own legs strong enough to carry her when it came time to kill.

Chomesuke, the famed witch who had tamed space itself was terrified beyond logic. Otherwise, she would have lifted her hand and commanded the very breath they breathed to be their demise but as it stood, she silently begged like a helpless child for a master she knew full well was not listening to her pleas.

No matter how cold she became, be she utterly blue and her skin solid rubber, she would never freeze to death and no matter how hard her chest hammered within the confinements of her rib cage, it would never-

-like she wanted to feel terrified because that was human nature.

To feel paranoid, stressed, sad, hungry, thirsty, angry, and fearful of the most silly things came natural and to deny it was utter torture.

And thinking to where those elders where now and how they risked their lives to save hers, thinking her young and just as helpless as them, did she have any right to do anything but feign fear and helplessness? If she wasn't the witch her master turned her into, would that sacrifice not have been so meaningless?

To forget what is was to be human was to forget everything. To forget everything was to fall and Chomesuke could never know how deep the depths or what would become of her at the bottom.

Was it so wrong to cling to her humanity even if she was no longer human? Was it so wrong to try a little harder after all she had done?

And was it not human nature to strive for self destruction? To work and toil for what would give him happiness by doing everything imaginable to keep it out of reach?

What if she wanted to truly be something greater? Someone who fled from the abominable mistakes of the past and taught the next generation better?

What if the bloodshed was something she wanted-

-Human faces but they were not humans. The exact same ugly face of a smiling old man was theirs to flaunt.

Their hairy bodies were hunched over, crawling on the ground on their sturdy front legs like animals. The canines had grown long and the nose far more sensitive than that of the wolves they originated from.

Project Hellhound was something her young sister created to kill of the spade fungus toads that were killing locals but once the toads were all gone, the Chimera had multiplied to a dangerous number and, with no purpose, began to replace the toads, killing every human that dared to wander the night.

Chomesuke knew that her sister still had some control and used the Chimera to spy on the villages outside of Wonderland but even with that control, she found the creatures would not differentiate between her and any other human around.

And so, when that kind elderly couple let her into their home for shelter, despite the curfew, the Chimera took advantage of the meter crack in their door and ate what little bit of bone and skin was left in their bodies.

That's just how it was here, in the outskirts of wonderland. The outer cities were at the complete mercy of the greater city and to cooperate with whatever experiments or tests the current monarch desired to conduct. It was because the outer cities had no way of earning money because all their fields and tourists attractions were eit her completely bought or heavily taxed by wonderland.

It was not the fault of the outer cities. It was the fault of the people of Wonderland who and so much of the imperial wizard and her master surely. Surely her hand was not forced to commit such heinous crimes against humanity.

Surely not. Surely there was forgiveness for her and surely Lavi was wrong about her.

Surely.

A cold voice like ice water filled the air. An inhumanly low voice that chilled her to the very bone. Goosebumps coated her arms and legs when she heard her name being called so very softly like a parent calling a child by none other than the very creatures whose large paws stomped through the halls in search for her.

"Chomesuke…" Said the Chimera in a nearby hall, probably ten feet away and continually circling the kitchen to get a better g asp on her scent, "Little girl… Chomesuke….."

She knew that if she made it out of this, which she would as she always did, her sister would still not have the jurisdiction nor the desire to terminate this project. That did not anger Chomesuke since she knew the imperial witch of mass was never given much of a choice.

Yes, it was cruel and horrific to release these sorts of creatures upon innocent people for the benefit of one city, the world was horrific and that was the end of it. All that mattered was that the strongest took their place at the top of the food chain.

Or, at least, that's what her master always told her. After being away so long, she wasn't sure if she believed it anymore.

It was horrifying. She felt alien and she hated herself for thinking it.

Her beloved master who gave her anything and everything. He made her and sisters great, treasured and powerful women.

Her master, who had promised never to lie to or deceive her in any way, she accused of lying to her and betraying her trust.

From that logic, it seemed completely illogical and incomprehensible. She was almost willing to abandon the notion completely and run back to her master with those silly ideas left in the dirt.

But Chomesuke felt it. She felt it in her blood and bones like it was an instinct carved into her very being, like she, a normal country beggar, was actually supposed to be able to sense magical disturbances.

Nature was out of balance, otherworldly and evil forces were gathering in wonderland, her beautiful city, just like that wretched day. That wretched day that changed everything and marred her view of her wonderful master forever.

Perhaps if she closed her eyes to the blood and held her ears when they began to scream, Lavi's lively green eye and Allen's steadily crumbling form clinging to every bit of hope he had left would not haunt her every waking moment.

She was such a bad girl, no one knew that better than her, but what was the truly right path? What way would truly redeem her?

It's another form of horror for a delicate creature with a weak constitution to go against its own nature. There was truly no greater earthly torment than that of a creature that did not know what way to exist.

Her two natures; That of a human being and that of a witch; that of innocence and that of sin; Were constantly at war, clashing violently inside her and she could do absolutely nothing about it.

How could she do anything? How could she make a decision when she had nowhere to turn to and no one to be?

It was truly terrible.

So so terrible.

That is the reason why when a heavy claw came down upon her hiding place, when the door to the cupboard was ripped off the hinges in one fowl swoop, when the brittle and moldy wood crumbed to pieces like butter, when the awful smell of human flesh contaminated her nostrils, when light pierced Chomesuke's eyes after a long hour of darkness and she got her first glimpse of the bloodied face and bulbous yellow eyes of the hideous predator that had been stalking her this long while, she did not scream.

"You hid!" It cackled, its voice thick like tar and loud like the sound of a gun firing, "Filthy wretch!"

For a moment, she truly believed this would be the last image should see in life because she was just that, determined to believe herself some pathetic human.

This-

-blood was not the color she thought it should be. She knew it was not right but her idiotic mind refused to believe it was black or that the sticky syrup all over her body, spurting from thick gashes in the Chimera's body or the sweet sweet ecstasy she forced down her throats in large gulps was blood.

It all happened so fast, the invisible swords tearing the creature and , judging by the melody of agonized howls that threatened to deafen her, all the rest of its pack to a nonexistent force throwing her to the ground and fulfilling her long awaited desire to wet her throat with the warm syrup.

The warm syrup was black. The black syrup was blood.

Her body ached from the quick and forced movement. She knew witches could move just that fast but her human joints and muscles were never meant to so it ached.

Chomesuke recalled drinking it all against her will. She recalled sucking every last drop she could, on her hands and knees, from the dead creature's wounds and she recalled it giving her ecstasy like she hadn't felt it a long time.

But more than that, she felt disappointment. She felt so so disappointed in everything and herself.

Yes, the ecstasy was so real for just a few moments but once it was gone, it was like it never was.

She had held on for so long against those disgusting inhuman primal urges and at a vulnerable moment like this, it was now she decided to give into everything. All that hard work gone and all that time wasted.

Those chimera were not the terrible beasts she was promised as her they all lied at her feet, dead in a moments notice. They had lied to her.

Those kind people that let her into their home should not have died for something so pathetic as this and this whole city should not have built on fear of these disgusting beasts.

Anger boiled inside her like a pot on a burning stove and it hurt so bad.

If she was not choking herself with quarts of the sweet syrup, she would have screamed, she would have cursed everything in front of her over and over and over again till she went hoarse and her voice could no longer be heard.

If her whole being wasn't soaked in blood, she would have realized that she was crying just like she always did, whenever she was distressed or scared but no one was here to comfort her or wipe the stains from her clothing.

No one was coming to save a girl like her from the monster she had become.

But sooner than she would have thought, with her knees planted firmly into the ground, her heart was exhausted with feelings and thoughts. The feelings and the thoughts were vibrant fires that burnt so bright till they turned her heart to ash. She felt so empty at times like these, like she was nothing but an illusion of filth, like nothing was really real anymore.

The taste of iron still burnt her tastebuds and her lungs felt full of acid from that black syrup she practically inhaled. It still burnt but it didn't matter because the crime had already been committed.

Silence was like a harsh laughter, the whole world seemed to mock her for her stupidity.

The worst part, the most bitter truth to swallow was that she saw the rivers of warm and comforting gold sunlight falling through the window panes in the halls, almost as through what she had become had been brought to light and even the light began to keep its distance from her.

Had she truly become that evil, that wretched of a creature? Was she truly beyond saving?

Chomesuke did not want to know because what little that was left of her had turned to ash and all that was left was for her to look to the only one left in front of her.

She was smart enough to see, evil through the puddles of sticky black ink all around her, that it was not her powers that killed this creature.

There was no secret, no invisible weapon. There was no simplified truth and no brighter light was hidden under the surface.

The cells that made up the Chimera's tissue had torn themselves apart because they were commanded to by someone who was given authority.

That was an earthly authority that only belonged to one.

There, standing in front of her was a pair of familiar citrine eyes looking back into hers, cold and haunting like the very essence of fear.

She had not laid eyes upon that person in so very long and if she had not grown a little bit older, a little bit wiser, looking into that abysmal yellow, she would have felt that very same fear that had sent so many strong men to their graves.

There, in front of Chomesuke stood someone with the appearance of a twelve year old girl, an appearance frozen in time because of the powers she was gifted. She was a good and loyal girl nonetheless.

Her violet hair was always so smooth and shimmering, her dark skin so smooth and perfect one might think she was a doll dressed up in the finest gowns if it weren't for that sinister and hideous grin that no human hands could ever mold, no matter how hard they tried.

Chomesuke had tried before to mold a doll of her just to keep in her collection of the cutest things, but never succeeded. Nothing could ever compare to her sister, by bond and not blood , the feared Road, the imperial witch of mass.

There was no mistaking a presence as real as hers. One did not simply hear, see and smell a witch. One felt the presence of dark magic their entire being, every fiber of the body.

In many ways, Roads very presence was far more real that her own, being connected to and fully embracing the source of power they had both been gifted.

She was almost more clearly detailed than the reality around her. All the trauma, the corpses of kind souls and awful souls, the heartbreak, all of it seemed to fade into the background as Chomesuke drank the entirety of her sister's form.

Road was so real, so familiar and real. Chomesuke felt as though a heavy weight had been lifted from her shoulders at the mere sight of her small frame.

In her empty ashen being, some semblance of vague hope sparked.

Road. The wise girl she had spent years with and hadn't seen in so long was standing right before her. Road, the one who always knew how to fix everything. Road, the one who never made mistakes even in the most distressing of situations. Clever and cunning Road.

Good girl Road, the master's favorite.

Chomesuke would have leapt forward, taken her into her arms and wept miserably into the silky laces and frills of her soft pink gown but her knees had grown far too weak to take her off the ground.

Instead, she reached her arms out pathetically, practically begging her to come close, to let her feel her warmth, anything at all.

"Road…?" She choked out, "Is… Is that…?"

Roads head tilted to the side like a confused animal and in a tone as gentle and vibrant as a melody, alas, she spoke.

"Have you not feasted in so long… That you crawl on the ground like a dog…?"

It was true that she had not tasted blood since that wretched day but she payed her question no heed. She would accept any consolation to distract her from all that had happened.

"Road!" She practically cried, pushing herself forward, "Y-You saved me-!"

In the pools of black liquid all around her, her legs slipped out from underneath her. She would have hit the floor if Road hadn't rushed forward to catch her and not a moment too soon.

Kneeling in the filthy artificial blood, Road held her sister close who she had not seen in so long, burying her face in the crook of her neck like she always used to.

"Did you think I wouldn't see you?" She asked breathlessly, expecting neither answer nor response, "Did you think I wouldn't come?"

Chomesuke felt so light and sickly. Road had instantly seen the ill health inside her, even from the Chimera's eyes. Even if she was eating healthily, three meals and plenty of water, her changed body needed the nutrition found in blood.

"Still resisting the transformation?" She smirked, "You're still the same idiot as ever…."

As Chomesuke sobbed into her sister's shoulder, she tried to forget the pain-

(One day, maybe I'll actually get good at writing. Anyways, let's play a fun game. Let's take the beginning word of every snippet and put it in a sentence. Then let's take the ending word of every snippet and put that in a sentence. Anyways, good day and God bless!)


	12. November

(It's late, it's choppy, it's terrible but I've made up my mind about it. We are so totally finishing this tale that I dedicated a lot of my time in creating, believe it or not. I freaking despise dialogue and it really really shows in this chapter. This whole thing is just cop out after cop out. These days, I watch Touken Ranbu Katsugeki and I just really really want to learn to breath happy again like I do when it's the holiday season. Nonetheless, here it is! I own nothing and I hope you enjoy! Good day and God bless!)

Lavi had seen her just as clearly as Allen had. The light meister may have thought otherwise but he couldn't be more wrong.

He had seen her very very well and a hundred things so similar to het.

She was a woman of reasonable standing. She wore a gown of violet lace that complemented her golden locks of hair. She was tall for a woman in this region and her eyes were a piercing blue like the evening sky.

If her face hadn't been marred from crying for several days on end and her body thin and brittle from continual starvation, she might actually be considered quite beautiful.

Her pale frame stood so very still like a broken doll in the dark alley ways and the abandoned graveyards of the city where no one bothered her.

At first, when they were but newcomers to the town, Lavi thought of giving her money or food, whatever she needed to ease her personal sufferings that, having been so great for so long, the whole town had abandoned her to her tears.

That was, of course, until he saw what she held so close to her heart in a bundle of leather cloths and dirtied rags.

A pale and lifeless arm of an infant was all he saw and for a brief second but it was all he needed to see to understand.

Lavi immediately understood why she was left alone to rot in her sorrows, why no one dared to help her.

It was because they understood that they could do absolutely nothing for her.

Money and personal belongings were as replaceable as anything. She was even young and beautiful enough to marry again and perhaps have another child but nothing in the world could ever return to her what she had lost.

Her child who she carried for several months and birthed was gone forever.

It was just that simple. It was just that black and white. Those who could not and would not accept it were usually far too weak to survive in this sort of world.

Surely that was that.

Or perhaps that wasn't quite enough.

There are some things that are just wrong. If you asked me to prove them, be it through science or physical evidence, I could not but one of the most vital pieces of nature, of the reality we hold so dear, of all that makes us human, is what distinguishes the clear right from

wrong.

It's just that simple, just that black and white.

As a dormouse, an orphan being the only thing his city allowed him to be, Lavi lived among the lowest people. He saw people starve to death and orphans eat their corpses in desperation. Lavi had grown used to seeing the worst things imaginable a long time ago because he had accepted that, as a lowly dormouse, there was absolutely nothing he could do for them.

But Lavi, though jaded and experienced in all those horrors in life, was still a human being and he would never get used to seeing those he knew, those he held dear like family, turning to things far worse than death because they could never accept that life was cruel.

In many cases, some were just too ignorant to see the truth.

In one particular case, they were too young, too bright, too innocent what it meant for a mere human to play a god.

It was practically a law of this wonderful nature they dwelled in that no one could ever be a god but every single person, no matter how small, weak or kind, was capable of becoming a devil.

It was three hours after midnight. The sun had not risen to reveal the dark things that would take place that day.

Allen should have known by now that he had become far too thin, far too frail and far too weak for Lavi to let him out of his sight, even for a moment.

He should have known by know that, just because his guide's eyes were closed and his body under a blanket, he was not truly asleep. Lavi had been trained to never sleep deep enough to be vulnerable. Even the silent sound of the light meisters feet against the wool carpet and the faint crack of the doorknob being turned was all Lavi needed to be wide awake.

Allen should have known, after all they had been through together, that he wasn't going to loose him in the heavy rainfall and if he was going to try, he should have made sure to disguise himself.

His friend was unusual in the way that his skin, hair and fur coat seemed to glow in contrast to the dim and filthy city. He looked so alien and out of place here that, for a moment, it made Lavi question what was truly the sickness; The city or the friend he protected with his life on several occasions.

The small city suddenly became an unfamiliar maze of alleys and roads Lavi could hardly tell the difference between. The walls were looming figures, some comforting like a parent, some judging like an ignorant passerby, some hateful like the enemy himself.

There was an essence of something twisted in the passing breeze and yet Lavi still followed.

The dormouse had a suspicion that perhaps it was wrong to be so suspicious of the friend he had all these long months but there was no denying that something dark troubled the light meister, he held a very dangerous secret that dimmed his colors and marred his white.

They had only been in this city for a few hours and he would probably never know why Allen walked the streets like he had been here for many years.

How had the boy, so sickly and do weak, known so easily which streets to cross and which corners to turn? Perhaps it was truly the light meister who had been underestimated and not the dormouse.

Perhaps that was the truth all along.

Yet he still followed his client right through the hours of the night.

Through the long hours of walking, Allen's bare feet took him the dimmest area around; the center of the city; A simple platform of pure polished marble that detailed the entire west area of the continent; It was an area only accessible by one path, otherwise surrounded on every side by vacated building; The lowest point, a place where the city seemed to cave in like it were falling into a sinkhole perpetually.

Knowing it very hard to keep himself hidden on marble floors, Lavi stayed a distance away but his eyes were still open. He didn't dare blink in fear of missing something and having his friend disappear because he couldn't shake the feeling that was exactly what was to happen.

It was almost like an instinct.

Allen just stood there as still as a diamond figurine. He was silent yet firmly rooted in his position. Lavi could see plainly as the day that seemed to be an eternity off that, though he stood strong, Allen was scared of something.

And when Lavi saw the woman with the golden locks emerge from one of many identical doorways in a row, his heart nearly skipped a beat.

The fresh tears on his thin and filthy face seemed to twinkle like starlight in a cloudless night of no stars. She shivered from the cold miserably, her whole being wracked with visible torment be it self inflicted or inflicted by another, either indirectly or directly.

The woman eyed Allen warily. She did not trust a foreign child she knew to be sick, just like many of the other citizens here but she smiled back when Allen smiled brilliantly at her.

But Lavi's eye was immediately taken by the bundle that still lay safe and sound in her arms; The only difference was that there were a few new blankets, a blue garter stitch blanket and a red handkerchief. The woman truly believed with all her being that a few new blankets would give the corpse in her arms warmth.

The sight was sickening. Nothing more, nothing less.

He wondered how or why Allen had decided to find this woman, and all on his own. What did he hope to do? He could never relive any of her pain and words could never bring her out of the place where her mind is now trapped.

Just what exactly were his intentions?

No sooner than thinking that, Allen took a single graceful step forward.

The woman took a step back, holding the bundle closer to her chest but Allen kept walking towards her. He was not going to stop, even though she told him not to come any closer, her maybe once melodic voice a dry hiss from dehydration and her movements slowed from starvation.

Allen, still hindered by some sort of fear, forced himself forward.

Lavi immediately felt the need to intervene. He did not think Allen would hurt her in any way, he just saw no reason to corner her like a caged animal for whatever reason the boy had in mind.

He could never think of a time when Allen was greedy, with the soul exception of food. All joking aside, the boy always put others above himself and went out of his own way to help them. He did not doubt Allens good intentions, just his poor choice of what to do with them.

He emerged from his hiding place in one swift motion and began to approach the pair at an uneasy pace.

Though confident Allen would not let a finger on her, he never acted this way before. Somehow this felt so familiar to Lavi, like he had acted out the same script before, like the same puppeteer was pulling his strings once again and he could not quite pinpoint it.

In all actuality, he couldn't quite see too clearly anymore.

Allen, his dear friend and client for this long while, had gone to do some sort of foul business he did not trust Lavi to know. It, somehow, made Lavi feel far more alone than he would like.

His skin was chilled and his fingertips were going numb. He was becoming aware of the empty spaces between him and nearby inanimate solids. Was he afraid? Why was he afraid? Who or what was there to fear?

Had he truly become that weak after all this time?

And any sane thought was washed away from his mind when the hideous and disgusting sound of something being torn echoed through the empty city streets.

His heart about ceased to beat.

He had heard that sound so often in his nightmares and he saw his friends destroying themselves every time he closed his eyes.

Fog. Oil. Blood.

Every feeling, taste and smell from the day he confronted Doug and saw the true evils witchcraft had brought on humanity was carved into his very being like a parasite never to leave till the day he died.

Words and faces from those distant memories blinded him like ghosts as he ran into a sprint.

"Allen!" A scream tore through his throat as he ran.

His boots slammed against the marble with little care as he turned the corner, seemingly unable to get there fast enough, like something was holding him back. It was always the same way, with invisible fingers clawing at his flesh to hinder him from

And that is what it is when, without warning or so much as a single premonition, one's greatest fear becomes their reality in the worst possible way.

And that was how our good traveling party, Allen and Lavi realized that all adventures, no matter what kind, always come to a quick and bitter end but not necessarily at the blessed destination of Wonderland desired.

And that was when the smiles faded fast, death crouched upon the hearts of the innocent and all was not at peace.

And that was when Lavi saw that the crystal clear liquid gushing from the woman's pale lips, all down her sunken in features and filthy remains of a dress, was not water. The opal like characteristics were highlighted as her skin lost all the color it ever had, turning a disgusting shade of gray as it became brittle and dry like a rotten piece of bread.

Seeing this wretched ritual a second time practically had Lavi glued in place, entirely unsure what to feel, do, say or think. The dormouse didn't dare breath in fear this nightmare would become any more real. He was entirely helpless, just like the time before.

For the second time in his life, he had seen something horrible. For the second time, Lavi had watched his dearest friend rip the life force out of an innocent person.

The normally perfectly fitting dress become loose and slipped off her shoulders as her body became smaller and smaller, shriveling up till her gray skin tightly lined her bones.

Her wide and once beautiful eyes were frozen in terror, her mouth agape as a black saliva like liquid running down her chin.

He didn't need to know that she was dead when her body began to fall backwards in free fall.

She was within arms reach when he knew it was too late.

The last image he saw of the beautiful face her spirit had formed upon her physical form was her body hitting the ground and becoming no greater than the dust she was made from. Not a moment later, all that was left was blown away by the passing breeze and the broken woman of sadness who lurked in the alley ways was gone forever.

"You… You killed her…."

The way Allen smiled bitterly at what he had done was something Lavi was familiar with. It was the same face poor poor Doug bore when his human nature was denied and the power he invoked manipulated him to steal the life from innocent people. It was the same feigned smile Doug wore every time he sacrificed a piece of his own flesh in attempt to revive to once sweet and kind child Collette, only to create a soulless monster that bore her face, each copy he created becoming more and more perverse than the one before.

Lavi jerked his head around, rage as white as the dust on the ground, fully prepared to do things he would regret to see that Allen, still rooted in that same spot on the marble, had hardly even heard him.

Allen was too busy looking into the big blue eyes of an innocent baby girl. The child wailed, flailing its chubby arms from inside all the blankets.

How much it truly resembled a human child made him utterly disgusted. Every quality was almost identical but he was smart enough to know now that just as much as life had been put back into the infant's body, witchcraft now ran through her veins.

The thing Allen now carried in his shaking arms lovingly was not human and yet the boy still smiled just like Doug had; It was a smile of one that truly believed one had done right.

He had seen it before. Lavi had seen the life force of a person get torn from their bodies by force so many times and had turned a blind eye to it, thinking it none of his business because it was nothing he, as a poor little dormouse could change but something had changed in him in the last year or so, be it because of seeing the world and all its wonders or just how much Allen reminded him of Doug sometimes.

He could not look away this time because as the intense cry of a fussing and motherless baby now filled the once empty air, it suddenly hit him that he'd never be truly safe from his demons no matter how hard he tried to forget.

So the normally gentle Lavi did not think much about either Allen's safety or the the baby's safety when he, in one quick action, rushed forward and shoved them both to the ground.

Allen hardly even responded when his soft bones hit the marble floor with a light thud and yet he still held the infant protectively against his chest, almost as though on reflex.

"What…. Did you do…" At this point, Lavi was searching his brain desperately for the right words just to express the rage he felt in that moment, "What the hell did you do, Allen!".

He didn't even so much as twitch. This was the first time Lavi had yelled at him like this and he remained completely silent, almost completely unaffected.

Was he in shock? Did he have any right to fall into shock in this moment?

Months of adventures and times together seemed to disappear from Lavi's mind. He did not see his dearest friend in front of him, only Doug and other mere children in the streets falling to this madness and destroying themselves for no reason.

"Allen…!" Lifting his hand, preparing to strike the boy felt so right in that moment. He was honestly not sure what else to do.

He would have brought his hand down so quickly, without hesitation. He was going to strike him until, suddenly, Allen used what little ability he had to speak these words.

"...What she wanted!" Allen shrieked, lunging forward, eyes closed far too tightly as he anticipated the blow, "Wanted… This… Way…"

A silence.

A pause. The haze of anger faded as his vision cleared. Lavi's arm dropped from the air and fell limply to his sides.

There were droplets of water on Allen's pale face and it was not raining.

Lavi's will faltered like a meek blade of grass in the wind before breaking down all together. He would not hit Allen; He never wished to harm him truly.

Just as he had thought; Allen had no idea, nor could he ever have known what he had truly done.

What he saw now was Allen in innocence committing crimes a against all that made him human. Doug was that way once. His innocent desire to see the child, the real child again was what drove him to do such terrible things and Lavi was a complete idiot, either not having the heart or too cowardly to stop what he knew was wrong. It was because Lavi blamed himself for the death of that girl, having might as well have strangled her to death himself.

But soon the power that he thought could give Doug back what he lost consumed him and he forgot Colette's face. Innocent little girls just like Collette were killed, their lives ripped from their small bodies and disgusting creatures hardly even resembling Collette anymore continued to be made meaninglessly.

There was so much slaughter and Lavi had no choice but to kill every single one of Doug's creations he came across until he found that special little shrine in the forest. Lavi chose never to be the fool he was from that day forth and cut Doug's- no, that things head right off its shoulders. He could still taste the blood, sweat and tears.

Every witch hunt that took place after, from that day forward, Lavi partook in. The blood and the fear on those creatures mock human faces no longer scared him. He felt so cold after that, he thought he might have died with Doug that cursed day.

It never stayed innocent. It was never good no matter how much the desperate human mind convinced itself that it was. There was nothing left of his first true friend in the end and perhaps that's what made it easier to kill him.

But this was the silent promise he made in that same passing breeze. Lavi would not make the same mistake this time. Lavi would do whatever he could possibly do to make sure that the evils of witchcraft did not take Allen away from him, to.

That is, if it wasn't too late already.

That night had never felt so cold.

The walls no longer retained life. The black sky gave no light. The intricate styles unique to this region no longer held any importance to him. It all felt far too dull.

Allen released the baby easily enough.

When Lavi held the orphaned baby in his arms a bit closer, he felt the warmth of another human being in the blankets. He wanted to believe that this baby was alive here and now but he knew better; The warmth was all that was left of that woman in the alleyways.

The child, despite that it would grow up and have an average life, personality and friends of all sorts, would soon become a vessel for witchcraft surely and was not technically alive anymore; Allen had merely passed the mother's life force to the child. That was all.

That would surely come in the future but now that little girl was just a baby in mind and soul and Lavi would never find it in him to end her life right now when she was innocent.

Standing in front of the dreary orphanage doors, Lavi pulled the knocker back once, twice, thrice and placed the now sleeping infant comfortably on the space beside the stone steps.

Lavi only bid her goodbye and left her side when he heard the sound of someone approaching the door from the inside.

The last thing he heard was the chipper voice of the governess taking the child into her arms and speaking peacefully to her.

He did not see since he hid from the possibility of her watchful eye behind a nearby street lamp.

The ordeal reminded him of the last goodbye he had made to Doug's grave; It became a habit for him, a lonely little dormouse to visit the grave of his once first and best friend whenever he had to travel out of town, run an errand in town of just whenever the mood struck him. He knew Doug himself wouldn't approve of it but he always did like to tease his friend like that.

The last thing he said to his friend's grave and the last thing he said to that orphaned girl was this;

'Listen, I'm gonna be gone for a while on this errand… So, um… Don't forget about me, alright? See yah later!"

Lavi took in a deep breath and held it before breathing out slowly, his breath turning to a white mist in the gold air. He was trying to calm down.

Perhaps Lavi would return to visit this town many many years from now as a stranger; No one would remember him but he would always remember.

Perhaps he would check in on this girl from time to time to see what path she would choose but as soon as her feet began to choose the inevitable path and she became dangerous, till then and only then would he force himself to kill her.

Of course, that should have been several years from then.

He never thought walking by himself would be so cold. He could take blizzards and harsh winters easily with a smile on his face but somehow the ice had reached his heart when he least expected it to and he could do anything but force a smile on his face.

He felt so angry and the full extent of what had happened hadn't even hit him yet. Lavi had realized at some point on this long and tiresome journey that, even though he had accepted Allen's tragic and undeserved fate as a light meister, he was not alright with the boy dying an early death.

Now a new wave of misfortune had found its way to alien shores and Lavi was faced with the prospect of his friend being taken from this earth far too early from something far worse than death.

He wondered how this was even possible as he walked. The first wave merely put a bitter taste in his mouth while the second was a dark aura threatening not only to mar any time he spent or fond memories he had with Allen, but Allen's whole being as well.

There was no denying what he saw, no matter how much he wanted to pretend it was all just a bad dream. Lavi knew that much.

Life may have made him jaded and cold but every memory of a childlike and innocent smile brighter than the stars were Lavi's undeniable proof that Allen was not a bad person and probably never would be, no matter what these newfound powers changed about him.

Allen had said that he exchanged the lifeforce of that woman because he thought it was what that woman wanted. In all honestly, he was right. Lavi saw in every fiber of that woman's being that she would give everything and anything for that child to breath again. Allen saw her desperation and delivered the best he could and he could never have known the consequences of his actions; Niether Lavi or Doug knew in the beginning, either.

Perhaps that's how witchcraft was brought to the continent to begin with; Some ignorant and pure child thought that they could better things in this life of hardship and misery.

It's ironic how that's the point where things always seem to go wrong.

Far too lost in thought, he did not move from his post by the street lamp.

With his eyes cast skyward, he relaxed his body and let himself slide down into a sitting position upon the cold and damp pavement.

He wondered how it was possible. Being that this was a subject those from his hometown were quite educated on, he had every right to ponder the new turn of events.

Normally the suspects of witchcraft were always those seemingly immune to the pathogen. In all the records Lavi had read and it was his responsibility as a dormouse to read all of them, he never once heard of a case in which a convicted witch or wizard was not immune to the pathogen.

He remembered the words just as vividly as the lemon scent of the dry record papers.

It was the complete lack of meister wizards or witches that led scholars in the area to the firm conclusion that wizards and witches were the ones that brought the pathogen to the continent to begin with.

Not only had Lavi seen that rule broken in the last day but he also thought the way Allen committed a spell unusual.

He didn't get a clear view of the scene but the end result was enough to confirm that Allen had passed the life of one human being to another.

In his experience on the subject, and he had a lot of it, Lavi had always seen witches and wizards sap someone's life force for the sake of fueling a fake heart in a homunculus they created to mimic a now deceased human but never did they pass the lifeforce to another directly.

He wanted to blame it on a different kind of magic or maybe it was just used differently but somehow he doubted that that was intact the case.

He heard of combinations in magic but he never really payed the rumors much mind.

But in the end, all his theories and questions came to a brick wall because he could never know what was truly going on unless he became a wizard himself and that was something he promised he would never do.

In the end, he was as useless as ever.

"Allen, Allen, Allen…" Lavi sighed heavily, "You've really don't it this time…."

Lavi's head hurt from thinking things over so hard. The cold bit at his skin even when the first stream of golden sunlight through peach colored clouds began to flow over the distant horizon.

It was only when the newborn light of day began to fill the streets that Lavi realized the first snow had fallen and he was too troubled to even see it. Patches of pure white powder painted the auburn rooftops and narrow street corners in noticeable heaps.

Sometimes sinking to the deeper levels of despair would cause you to miss beautiful spectacles like the first snowflake of winter hitting the earth.

Despair was dangerous that way.

The trained ears of the dormouse did not need to to see a form or hear his breathing and the faint voice that was carried with it to know who was standing camouflaged amongst the freshly fallen snow, looking no less white in the gleaming sunlight.

It was already hard enough to look at Allen at the moment and the sure unmarked color of his being just aggravated the problem.

Once their gazes locked, they just stared at one another, neither daring to say a word and break this downright painful silence.

A part of Lavi wanted to avoid the conversation he knew was going to come. Lavi compiled a list of alternative conversations about the clouds, the beauty of the sunrise, the smell in the air, anything about the snow, in hopes of forgetting what he knew was inevitable just a bit longer. He did not want to hear Allen's reasons behind what he had done to that woman and her child, he didn't want it to have happened at all.

He could tell by the posture, the shifting jaw, the look of shame in his violet eyes that Allen was no more happy than he was.

But in the end the two of them from the once very happy traveling party knew what needed to be done.

Without further ado, Allen turned on his heel and began to walk the opposite direction at a steady pace. Even though it went without saying that Lavi was inviting him to an early morning walk, it was Allen who was to started it.

Lavi pushed himself to his feet, despite the exhaustion he felt seeping into his bones, and followed suite.

The moment Lavi caught up with him, he began the exchange.

"Who would have thought," He tried sounding calm like he used to before this all happened but the nervous undertones in his voice betrayed how he truly felt, "That snow would look so nice in a dark and dingy place like this."

Allen kept his eyes to the ground that his feet walked upon as he pulled his fur coat further over his small shoulders.

He wouldn't know how to reply. It was not in the boys nature to know how to reply so Lavi continued.

"It's funny," he chuckled, "It's very pretty now and the snow definitely lightens up the mood here. It almost makes me understand why people would want to live here in the middle of nowhere."

Lavi's words, Allen quickly found, rung true. The snow upon the ground had the appearance of diamonds and what snow the sunlight had melted washed down the drain some filth that still clung to the brick paved road.

Something so natural and common as snowfall under a golden sunrise was still so very breathtaking to behold.

Evan after all these years of human existence, they still found themselves stopping to stare at the spectacle.

It was almost the appearance of true beauty.

"Sometimes people forget. In despair they forget what truly makeslife worth living." Lavi almost whispered the words but Allen still heard them as clear as the coming day, "They forget how to let go."

Chills ran down his spine as he turned to face his guide.

"She want…" He hissed as his eyes searched almost frantically through the scene like he'd find an answer there, "Child… Back...Would give…. Any…"

"Even her life?"

Allen nodded his head furiously, perhaps far too much so.

Lavi stopped walking when Allen came to a sudden halt.

His small frame jerked forward slightly as he fought a sudden cough that built up in his chest, covering his mouth with his hand like Lavi always told him to in the past.

A silence as Lavi accessed the situation with a watchful gaze.

"I see now."

Allen paused.

"You thought it necessary to play the hero and pass the life force from the mother to the child with strange powers you knew and have known absolutely nothing about? That's the best joke I've heard all year."

The light meister had seen his guides rare anger before. He knew the tone and how Lavi tried so desperately to hide it when it showed. Sometimes for repeated offenses and sometimes for something nearly unforgivable but the blame had never fallen so hard on Allen himself before.

He never liked anger or the way its presence felt in the air but here and know, his insides felt rotten and disgusting, like the core of San Apple left out too long.

He wanted to think it was purely because of Lavi's anger but he knew it was truly because he knew the man's accusation was completely and utterly correct.

"Allen, you could have helped her in a number of ways but something like that…. It's not something any human being has a right to do…"

"Have… Ability…. Use it… To… Help her…."

"My grandfather was a crazy old man, that's for sure but one thing he said always stuck with me. He told me once that no man could be a god though every man strives to become one but rather mankind and every person that make up this rotten species has the ability to become a devil."

"Lavi…."

"No, Allen. I know you don't know the true horrors of magic but that innocence only goes so far. You did something horrible to that woman but you did something much worse to that woman's child.Yes, that child's death was awful but it was not your right to decide. You are not a god, Allen."

"What were you thinking? What, did you see yourself in that woman and you just had to act upon it? There are some people you should not help, Allen. Sometimes you don't always know what's best and you should ask people…. Who are fully willing to listen to you..."

"I….thought you….. Would…. Be angry…."

"Well now I certainly am! You should have told me that you had these- These powers! You killed an innocent woman and have her child's body over to become a vessel for all the evils that magic is! You did things no human was ever meant to do because,what, you wanted yo help her? No matter how great of pain that woman was in, she would have found solace one way or another because pain fades. Now that creature is an orphan and will continue to be miserable the rest of its corrupted life all because you wanted to play the hero, Allen!"

"O-Oh…."

"...I just have one question. Was it Chomesuke who showed you how to use it? Well, was it?"

"N-No! Never… Saw me...do…"

"Ah, so its your own ability, then? When did they start? Just how long have you been doing these things, Allen?"

"Please answer me, Allen."

"I-um…"

"Please."

"...Always...known. Helping people… Four months..."

"Four months… Huh. I should only have suspected as much. Somehow that's more disappointing than if Chomesuke taught you…"

"I… I just… Wanted to-"

"What, to help? Well, you did an excellent job of that, didn't you."

"I'm…. I'm sorry… Sorry…."

"... Somehow, I don't believe you."

"I'm sorry…. Lavi… I'm sorry…."

And that was it. That was how Lavi got his dear client to chant that one phrase over and over again like he was delirious. That was how Lavi reduced his best friend this past year to bitter tears the boy did his best to hide.

Of course the dormouse was able to pick every lock and hit every weak spot in the boys armor with ease till it all fell apart infront of him because he had gotten to know the boy far too well in this past while.

Allen genuinely valued his opinion of him and he was able to use that to his advantage.

It was almost to easy to break the light meisters heart and composure. It was almost too easy for Lavi to make Allen completely regret everything he had done.

Why was it so easy? Was he not his best friend just last week? Was everything he felt before this time of tribulation truly such a fallacy to behold that it could be thrown to the wind and forgotten so easily?

Was that the truth of the matter or was it something else?

When Lavi looked to his friend to tell him exactly what he had done and why it was wrong, did he see Allen or did he see someone else's? Were those words and the hate laced on every syllable even meant for Allen?

He left Allen there on the snow coated road. He hadn't even bothered to take him back home to safety like he normally would have. He told himself that it didn't matter and they, if Allen wanted shelter he would make his own way back to the cabin himself.

Lavi knew accomplishing his goal would bring him no satisfaction or happiness whatsoever yet he was still shocked by how numb he felt as he made his way back to the small cabin he had rented for the two nights he had intended to stay in this town.

It was a small cabin no taller than Lavi and no wider than six average men. It had no electricity and an exterminator certainly hadn't visited the place in years. Inside were two mattresses pushed up against the left side and on the right side was a vanity mirror with a bucket of clean water from a nearby well laying beside it.

It was certainly very overpriced for the quality of the shelter but it was still the cheapest place in town and the only place the citizens would allow foreigners like him and Allen to even go into.

The anger that had driven him before was gone and Lavi could hardly even remember the taste of it. It was almost as though he had been possessed by a spirit of some sort and robbed of all sane thought.

As he washed his face with the bucket of clean water inside, he couldn't help but think that there was some hypocrisy in his own words.

When he lay down in bed in hopes that a moments rest might wash away all bad feelings and clear his music nod, he knew that, though Allen was wrong, he himself was wrong also. He knew it and yet in his exhaustion, he couldn't bring himself to care.

Once or twice, maybe even thrice, he glanced to the mattress beside him and wished things could have been different and that maybe Allen could never have left that night to meet that woman in the alleyways.

He would not sleep the dawn away to morning light. He was more than capable of doing so but he would not let himself rest even for a moment. Deep down in his heart, he feared what height dream of should he sleep.

Who was he to talk of making peace and letting go of the dead when that was seemingly the only thing h was comp,entry incapable of doing.

He and his habit of daydreaming, wishing things in a past that could never be altered in the slightest could be different like dwelling in the past could ever improve the present troubles.

In some ways, that made Lavi delusional.

Those words he had said were taken straight from a script he had written in his head just in case things back then had gone a bit differently and somehow Doug had survived to hear it. That's why it felt so numb for them to be heard by someone they weren't meant for.

Allen, though not entirely innocent, was not entirely guilty either.

Those feelings of anger, hate and rage were just leftovers from that time long passed. He refused to let them go because they gave him purpose and shielded him from feeling how truly alone he was at times like these.

He, in complete honesty, was a sad pathetic creature that hated the rich and poor, big and small equally and cursed fate and all that fate had put him through.

In his heart, he cursed the very same fate that brought to him such wonderful adventures over this past year because he could not bring himself to let go and live in the present times. He cursed the same fate that, more than anything, brought about a second chance for him to redeem himself of all the mistakes he made that brought Doug down to those depths to begin with.

Lavi was too afraid to stop him because he did not believe he had the right. He might as well have killed him himself.

But here Allen was; Kind hearted, smart, innocent, alive Allen who knew so little about the world, who was giving Lavi a chance not to make the same mistake twice and he was about to push him down to those same depths all for the sake of a memory, a past he could never even hope to change.

When would Lavi ever learn to let go?

When would Lavi ever learn to change?

All these questions stormed his mind till it hurt but maybe now was not the best time to use his head. It was his head that told him he had no right to stop Doug's homicides; It was his head that told him that hiding behind his own insecurities was the most secure path; It was his head and all this thinking that gave him this awful victim mentality to begin with.

Rather, perhaps it was time for him to truly feel again. Perhaps it was time to see with the blindness of his heart again.

Once he came to that conclusion, all he saw and heard was this; A small fist knocking on the cabin door back in his home town.

He remembered that day from almost a year ago not as clearly as he would have liked but details were still very vivid.

This little light meister boy, a few years younger than himself, had followed him home despite all the times he had rejected his offer to take him across the continent.

It was not the payment or the assignment. The payment, everything the boy had in his possessions and an official citizenship, was enough and the assignment was something he was more than capable of doing, but Lavi just couldn't bring himself to care enough to take it on.

He locked the boy out of his cabin, even though it was raining heAvily overhead, thunder cracked and the winds were beyond wild. He hoped the boy would go away but he didn't. The boy stayed by him all through the night.

The next morning, he found the boy passed out on his porch.

Lavi, a random unimportant dormouse could not help but think it unusual that, out of everyone in this accursed city, this boy spent the most time on him. This complete stranger was the least willing to give up on him.

He ended up excerpting that boys offer and it turned out to be one of the best decisions he had ever made.

That fact forever stood and he would always be grateful.

He had never told Allen that, not even once.

Had he even thanked Allen for the friend he had been to a dormouse like himself? Had he even ever thought to do so?

Yes, Allen had done something terrible to that woman and child but leaving him alone like he had done would only continue the violence and bloodshed. He would end the cycle if he was merely there for the boy he called his friend.

In the end, even though he believed his words so strongly, it was Lavi who was partially to blame.

He knew not how to change the words he said or the things he felt in the now but now he understood that there was still a chance to make things right.

He would find Allen and make things right. They would continue there journey and make sure an incident like this wouldn't happen again.

Lavi's eye snapped open suddenly. He realized he may have fallen asleep but he could never be sure.

The golden light of the morning soon turned to a blinding white and streamed heavily through the one small window by the door.

He didn't need a clock tower to tell him that it was about eight in the morning. He didn't need to see or hear it to know that people were crowding in the streets.

He pushed himself up off the musky and cobweb filled mattress. The sound of springs whining was all that could heard in the silence.

Anxiety immediately filled his stomach and chest like some kind of corruption as a long silence followed. Allen, the one last chance he had to make thing right again, should have been back by now.

Almost out of reflex, he immediately began to logically assess the situation.

Allen was probably not where Lavi had left him anymore. This city they had traveled to, an unusual place at the edge of Wonderland's territory, did not take kindly to people with the pathogen so he highly doubted anyone good would have picked him up off the street. If that had not happened then Allen, probably under the impression Lavi hated him, would probably leave town.

He would leave to find a new guide after all Lavi had said to him.

The memory of making Allen cry on his knees like that weighed heavily on his mind. He probably had every right to think poorly of him and get a new guide that wouldn't shun him just because of problems he had in the past but Lavi had made the decision to think a little less and his gut was telling him right now that something was very very wrong.

Immediately, Lavi pushed himself off his mattress and sprinted out the cabin door, not caring in the slightest that he left it wide open fit thieves to pillage; After all, everything he had left to value in this world was not in that cabin and could potentially be in mortal danger. Something just didn't seem to matter.

He was temporarily blinded by the heavy rays of sunlight and lifted a hand to shield his eyes.

"Allen…" He muttered as motivation as he forced his feet to take steps forward.

Soon he was sprinting again with only a mild idea of where he was going.

The snow had been melted and the liquid turned the dirt to mud that lied in his path to trap him. Soon after, his vision adjusted and he was able to see where he had to go.

He could not recall the space between but the memories were like a blurred painting. All he really recalled was feeling borderline delirious, almost drugged.

All he knew was that he had to find Allen and quickly because something might get to him first. The idea acted as a beacon to lead him on the right path. Could the beacon have been Allen himself? What could have possibly been putting him in such mortal danger?

The kind of heat he ran through was the sort that was thick and heavy like he was swimming rather than walking, like every breath of air was smoke. It was the kind that made him long for snow to cover the ground once more.

It was the kind that made him wonder why this town was so unusually peaceful and secretive and why the weather could be hot like a dessert and cold like a mountain top so frequently. Why was everything do thrown out of balance?

Why did everything feel so wrong?

His feet took him to the dried up fountains by the mayor's house. He had taken a right turn the first time he followed Allen.

Upon turned right, he took the first path in a fork in the road; A path with almost white bricks.

So, upon following that path, he took a sharp left turn, soon sprinting down a narrow path in between two brick walls.

He just kept running down that one narrow and uneven path with only a single thought on his mind till the ground began to dip in and he found his boots slamming against smooth slick marble, still wet from the melted snow.

He came to an abrupt stop when the sound of a group of men trying to talk over one another and the city center filled his vision once again.

Lavi breathed a heavy sigh of relief when he caught sight of the boy standing in the center of the city; Allen, the light meister that nearly blended into the sunbathed city like just another spot of white on a clean canvas.

He had probably backtracked his steps from where Lavi had left him, Lavi assumed.

Allen stood still as a statue in the very center, the very point that dipped in the farthest, with his back to Lavi but Lavi did not need to see his face to know that it was him as the fur coat, height, small frame and hair like the snow that had fallen just last night were all the same.

He didn't doubt it for a second and rather was thankful because the pure color of white that made up the boy's entire being did not appear to marred by any dirt or blood since he last saw him.

For a moment, he really thought he wouldn't find Allen, that the boy would become nothing more than a memory he let go far too soon. He soon wondered why he had even felt so desperate to find him to begin with but more than that, he wondered why the feeling of desperation still had yet to fade.

Something still felt off to the dormouse.

He prepared to step out of the shaded alleyway to get a closer look and scene damp in sunlight and silence only for a young girl's voice to break through his intention like a knife.

"I assure you, I will take you to Wonderland safe and sound. Why would you have any reason to doubt me, Allen?"

Lavi stopped abruptly. He put a gloved hand on the nearby brick wall to balance himself.

He knew Allen would attempt to get a new guide after all he said. The fact made him a bit bitter but he still watched carefully.

Lavi had never heard this young girl's voice before. She sounded to him like she was a preteen but he had reason to doubt that; No child he ever met talked in that way. He could not even see her from this view. Who exactly was she and why was she offering a journey back to wonderland at such a young age?

"You aren't very nice." Was the quick, monotone and clear reply on Allen's part. It was unusual to hear him speak so clearly but that was hardly important at the moment.

"No, it was those men that weren't nice. They wanted to take you against your will, sell you to people equally as black hearted as themselves. I saved you, Allen out of the goodness in my heart."

Lavi raised an eyebrow. What exactly was this girl talking about? Whatever it was, he didn't like the sound of it.

"You killed them." Was all Allen said and all he needed to say.

It was said as a matter of fact but Lavi could still hear the hint of fear in his voice. A cold chill in this wretched heat traveled up and down his spine.

He'd say by the way Allen's voice shook from the inside of his still frame that he was more than terrified in the place he stood.

Whoever this girl was, it didn't matter.

Sometimes one doesn't need an explanation to know that something had gone very wrong somewhere along the way. What he heard could not been denied as anything but plain unnerving and all the evidence he needed to support is unusual theories and react was the gut feeling that led him to the center of the city to begin with.

"I did, didn't I. I could kill you as well, if I wanted to." She meant it completely, every ounce of bloodthirsty madness forced into every syllable.

"I…. I just want to go…."

A large part of Lavi, the far too human part that thought far too much, was telling him to step back and let whatever happen happen, that the fate of some light meister was none of his business and if it ended tragically, it would certainly not be on his head.

But somehow the smaller part of him, the brave bit that still saw the world with eyes of a child, sang its song a bit louder. It was telling him that even if the evil he felt before him was far too great, there came a time for everyone to stand up for something greater than themselves; That he had done something horrible when he took action and had become a mere observer to shield his heart but he had lost so much that way and now he was given a chance to change things with his own two things.

Sick of feeling weak and pathetic, he gave his ear to the latter.

He forced his legs to go forward at a casual pace out of his shade and into the blinding white light.

Upon moving forward, a dark form, almost pitch black in sharp contrast to Allen's white, became visible standing in front of his friend.

Lavi held a strong urge to pause yet again, but he kept going.

His assumptions were correct. She was a dark skinned girl appearing no more than twelve, short black hair gently framing her face and complimenting all its defined features. She wore a pink gown like one a child might wear if she was going to sleep; It looked well made, so perhaps this girl was rich.

The detail that put him off far more than he would like was the fact that she wasn't wearing shoes. No witches ever did, claiming that they liked to 'Feel one with the earth' or something.

Almost the exact moment he caught sight of her, he head snapped over to meet his suspicious gaze with the most wicked ear to ear smile he had ever seen.

"Its rude to eavesdrop." She said so cheerfully, her so very cruel smile not wavering for a moment, "Didn't your mother ever teach you proper manners?"

Her eyes were like charred wood; Black like they were made of obsidian. For a moment, he was convinced she knew exactly what he was thinking, but he shook that thought off, knowing it best not to show weakness if she was what he thought she was.

"Stop... it… Road…" Allen choked out, breathing so heavily through clenched teeth, Lavi feared he might begin to hyperventilate.

Another piece of information. This girls name was Road. The name sounded familiar but he did not have time to ponder where he had heard it before.

Allens violet eyes, with a sudden jerk of his head, only met his when Lavi made his way to his clients side. Even though his body language said that he was threatened by his sudden appearance, Lavi saw the relief in his bright violet eyes.

"Lavi…" He muttered softly.

"Oh? So this is the Lavi I've heard so much about?"

Now all eyes were on the small girl called Road in front of them who promptly skipped forward and wrapped her slender arms around Allen's waist like they were more than acquaintances and the boy visibly tensed up completely. Lavi was no different and fingered the hilt of the dagger at his side gently.

"My sister was very informative." She practically giggled, "She holds you in very high esteem."

"Your… Sister?"

"Chomesuke. Who else."

The hairs on the back of Lavi's neck stood up almost immediately.

He knew it. The creature in front of him was a witch, a thing of pure evil taking on the form of a human girl. She had to be if Chomesuke was her sister as she looked nothing like her and witches and wizards were prone to calling each other siblings because of the power that United them all.

Years worth of experience and skill begged him just to attack the thing that called itself Road immediately but he hesitated. She was fully aware that he knew so she grabbed Allen like this as a threat, telling him that if he made one wrong move, she would not hesitate to end his life. She was using Allen as a human shield to protect herself from Lavi who was so used to fighting alone, he never fractured this in and the thought made him sick to his stomach.

He had to be especially careful with this one.

Almost as though she heard his thoughts, she tightened her grip. It made Lavi awfully uncomfortable to know that she could break the boys back as easily as breaking a toothpick for she so desired just for a second.

"She told me how badly you treated her when you found out the truth," Her smile was quickly replaced by a frown, sharp teeth like those of an animal visible from behind her lips, "How you rejected her and broke her heart."

"Did she…?" Lavi breathed out, the bitterness of the whole ordeal still fresh on his tongue.

"She's a good girl. A naive one, but good nonetheless."

"None of your kind are good. Don't make me laugh."

"I knew," She continued as her eyes seemed to wonder, an oddly human action, "That this life of ours would break that goodness in her. I knew it would happen and yet I still don't like it that it was brought about by you."

The simple truth of the matter, now that the dormouse recalled, was that he made her leave because he did not want to end her life. He had never met a witch with so much emotion, so much heart and mind as her and he did not want that on his conscious.

Somehow, he wished Chomesuke, that girl he spent only a few months with, to know that he had intended it as a kindness. He could never have known he would have hurt her this badly.

"You know, if it weren't for how dear you still are to her," And the wretched smile had returned, a wicked and terrible smile that looked far too wrong on her innocent face as she spoke her words as clearly as possible, "I would have killed you already, Lavi the dormouse."

"They all say that, Road the witch."

"I gave you a chance to run."

"Don't need it."

And that's when the battle began.

Just like that, in the span of a heartbeat, his dagger was unsheathed and in the air heading straight for her head.

After all the training his grandfather drilled into him, hitting the corner of a little girl's head without harming Allen would be a sinch.

In the blink of an eye, her dark form seemed to vanish into thin air and his dagger shot through the empty space where she would have been, hit the marble and clattered loudly in the distance.

He missed but luckily it wasn't his goal to hit her. He merely was trying to get her away from Allen do he could get the boy out of harm's way so, as soon as her wretched form disappeared, he shot forward and ran to his friend.

"Allen!" He cried out as he seized the light meisters shoulders and forcefully turned him his way, "You have to leave! Now!"

"I can't… Move…" Allen hissed frantically, the beginning of tears wetting the edges of his eyes, "Help… I…"

Lavi cursed. An paralysis incantation. That witch must have prepared the incantation and made the poor boy watch as she did something horrible to those men he had heard about, judging by how scared he looked.

His peripheral vision picked up on movement and he, trusting his instincts full heartedly, immediately reacted by taking the light meister into his arms and rushing back out of the way.

Not a heartbeat later, about twenty flaming candles sharp and pointed at the ends, rained down upon the exact place he and Allen were not a moment previously.

"That wasn't very nice of you, Lavi!" Her voice echoed throughout the city center, every relapse giving Lavi chills in fear.

Backing into the shadowed alleyway, ever so quietly like a scared animal, he located a narrow corner and, ever so softly lay Allen down there.

Allens eyes were wide, panicked as his chest rose and fell far too rapidly. Tears fell down his cheeks. He was terrified to the point that it hurt him and yet it hurt Lavi so much to know know that he was partially responsible.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for everything." Lavi whispered bitterly with a finger to his lips, "Please don't make a sound."

He backed up, despite Allen's quiet protests and ran back towards the light.

Lavi did not consider himself brave, not in the least. Even monsters from fairy tales still gave him the creeps and yet he had still killed many witches before. It was taxing on his bravery and every time, he just wanted to run away but he knew he couldn't, not this time.

Not when he had finally found something more to fight for.

"Come out come out, wherever you are!"

And so he stepped out and bathed in sunlight yet again, his second dagger in his fingers. He took a deep breath and prepared himself.

She was standing directly in front of him, some six yards away. It was bad news, he knew that much, but he kept walking.

"Where did you put the cute little meister?" She giggled with a sly smirk, "I wanted to play with him after we are done here."

The feeling of air brushing his brow was all it took to alarm him. He immediately pulled his dagger up to guard just in time for the witch to rush forward at an inhuman speed, a flaming candle in hand.

Her candle dagger clashed against his own dagger of metal with a force he was not used to and sparks flew through the air.

Lavi was forced back a couple of feet as he parried two more of her hand to hand strikes with ease.

"What," He breathed through his teeth, "Do you want with him, witch?"

She stopped her assault and flipped backwards to put some distance between them, only to land on her feet with the grace of a cat. Her expression was blank, almost unnervingly so.

"The ritual is important to my master." The words were said like a script and yet she seemed to genuinely believe them, more then that they seemed proud, "The ritual cannot happen unless the sacrifices are present in the great city."

His fingertips and knuckles went white as he gripped his knife just that much harder. Why did he feel so afraid at times like this?

What did she mean by those ominous words? He hated the feeling of vulnerability so much that came upon him when he wasn't in the know. How could he ever hope to fix things if he didn't know what was he needed to fix?

Lavi bit into his lip till he tasted his own blood as he prepared the best words to use next.

"What do you mean?" He questioned almost frantically as he began to move to the side, evading around her like a wild animal preparing to fight to the death, "What is it you're after? What the hell do you want with Allen?!"

"I think I've said enough," She replied snidely, "And you're becoming quite annoying."

And with a quick skip against the ground, she kicked off to boost herself forward and continue her assault of seemingly meaningless blows and slashing even a human like himself could defend against with ease.

Lavi had fought witches and wizards before but never any that relied so heavily on hand to hand combat. Normally they would of cast an offensive spell or two this far into the fight.

Something was wrong, Lavi knew that much. She was not aiming to hurt or even exhaust him, but something else, rather. She was aiming to push him back against the wall.

He didn't need to know what her intentions were to know letting her get her way would mean death.

He immediately began searching for ways to escape her but she just kept hitting him with, had he been any less coordinated, lethal blows that he had to block to save his own life.

Suddenly, it hit him like a smack to the face. Gun powder.

Before she had time to hit again, he reached into his pocket and, upon their blades clashing yet again, he threw the handful of gunpowder into ensuing sparks that flew through the air.

The spark was instant and a wall of fire and smoke quickly emerged between the two opponents.

Lavi did not check if it had even distracted Road before running as quickly as he could to the center of the playing field and baring his blade yet again.

He breathed heavily, his heart hammering in his chest and sweat coating his brow. He searched around, turning his head here and there, scanning every spot with his eye.

She was nowhere to be seen. An awful silence filled the city center.

Where was she? Had she run? Why would she even do that? She didn't get to Allen, did she?

"That was mighty low of you."

His heart skipped a beat, his breath caught in his throat. Lavi jerked his whole body around and took five whole steps back in a single moment.

She, Road the witch, was standing right behind him the whole time. How did she get there so fast?

Something was different now.

Her candles were gone. Any form of offense, gone. She just stood there in front of him with her arms pulled behind her back. She smiled at him with her eyes closed which made her look far too human and far too dangerous than he would like his opponent to be.

The only thing that separated her current image from the one she bore when they first saw each other were the burn pieces of fabric on her once perfect little nightgown.

"I was playing nice," She continued, "And you just had to do something so dirty and childish..."

An ominous aura radiated from her small form like a ghost leached to her back as she took a few slow steps forward, slowly, slowly.

"All I wanted…. Was for you to die colorfully and then you had to go and ruin my dress…"

Lavi swallowed but he still kept his calm. She was dangerous beyond words but all he had to do was worry about destroying her here and now.

In her right hand, a strange black flame gathered, one that seemed to give shadows rather than light to its surroundings. More than that, it seemed to steal the light from all around, almost as though the surrounding light was stolen and converted into what she held in her hand. It was nothing and then it became a reality in the palm of her hand simply because of the incantations she held at the tip of her tongue.

It was dark matter. A very very evil substance some might describe as the very reverse of all that makes up reality.

And yet Lavi held his ground, calculating ways just to get that flame out of her hand.

But in the distance, some yards away in a narrow corner in the shadows, something unusual happened.

The boy bound by a paralysis spell, one seemingly unbreakable by any mere human, struggled against his bonds.

He tried moving everything, his fingers, his toes, his eyelids but nothing seemed to work no matter how hard he tried. He felt trapped, claustrophobic like he was trapped under a thick wool blanket and could not breath even if he wanted to.

It was a dream he could not wake up from, a reality he could not escape and the gate he felt for it was pure.

The spell seemed to whisper in his ear, mocking him, calling him a quitter over and over and over again.

Finally, he had enough. Finally, he told the voice that mocked him to be quiet.

And just as soon as the thought left his mind, the voice was gone. Just like that, his chains hit the floor. Just like that, he was free to move as he pleased.

He didn't know how it was possible. He didn't know how he broke through the spell of a witch and he didn't care.

After a moment of catching his breath he, knowing the trouble his friend was in, knowing what that witch was capable of, knowing that his friend was not strong enough to challenge her, her stumbled out of the alleyway and into the light.

It took him a mere two seconds to process what he saw before him.

In Road's hand, she held that dark matter; The same thing she used to kill those men before and crush their bodies effortlessly, something she forced him to watch for no reason other than to see him squirm.

He nearly stopped breathing when he soon realized that she was going to use it on his friend who stood across from her, prepared for everything but what she was about to throw at him.

No. He could not let that happen. Anyone but Lavi.

Road had yet to notice him, being far to preoccupied completing the incantation.

Knowing it was all someone like him could do, he prepared his lasers, his only form of defense.

An opal like liquid spilled from his lips when he willed it, just a bit of his own weaponized life force to defend someone he deemed more important than himself.

A faint white light was visible from behind his teeth, from deep in his throat. It grew in intensity in a single second and before the witch could notice his existence, he opened his mouth wide.

He shot his laser, a single stream of white light.

Before either sides could process what happened, the laser hit roads hand and she was staggered majorly from the unexpected impact. She had not expected him to break out of her spell nor had she even known how he could have done it. Lavi could see that in her flustered expression.

Lavi could not have noticed what had happened or even helped his friend from what was to come, being a mere human with no supernatural abilities. Sometimes things are just too fast.

His eyes only met Allen's just in time for Road to recover from her temporary daze and, without a second to lose, with the hand that wasn't injured she twisted around shot another wave of briefly made magic the same shade as a passing wind.

It happened far too quickly. Before Lavi could warn him, before he could even speak, a hideous and agonized scream tore through the air like that of a wild animal.

Allen suddenly and frantically clamped his hand over his mouth either to stop himself from screaming further or to keep himself from puking because he would have done both if he hadn't.

Lavi's heart near stopped.

The boy, pale as a ghost soon lost his balance and the sound of two heavy things hitting the floor echoed through the city.

One was the boy, falling into a pool of Crimson blood forming underneath him.

The other was the boy's right arm separated from his body at the shoulder.

That was not right. That should not happened.

Panic welled up in Lavi's chest. All he saw was blood, so much blood.

Road, on the other hand, was shocked. She could not believe she had done something like that to such a valuable and fragile product that held such importance to her master.

She had acted on mere reflex. She was sure to get punished for her reckless behavior.

But that was all in the past and there's no use dwelling on her mistake. She didn't have Miranda here to fix it, after all.

If she didn't get that cute little light meister help soon, he was sure to die and her master would not like that.

So, without further ado, she used her powers to pick that pathetic dormouse up by the very mass he existed in and slam him violently against the bricks of a nearby wall. He could do nothing to fight back now and at this point, she did not care if the head trauma was his end, no matter how much Chomesuke liked him.

At least, he would surely sleep for a long long while.

The last thing Lavi saw before he passed out was the witch Road taking his client and friend, too weak to fight back, through a door of red; A portal.

"Allen…. No…."

In a second they were gone and Lavi saw no more.


	13. -Tigers-

( ** _At this point you all are probably sick of me and my inconsistent update patterns which I am truly sorry for. Especially that last chapter. That last one was awful but hopefully this one is more fun to read. This is the chapter that will explain stuff, by the way. I know my narrative is terrible and I am sorry for that, to. I don't really mind that school's starting again. I thought I would, but I don't. Also, special thanks to jy24. Thanks for everything. God bless you. Anyways I own nothing and I hope you enjoy! Good day and God bless!)_**

-perfect crime.

History could say what it wanted about them, about what they did and all they became, but Road, the imperial witch of mass, could rest assured that one fact would never change.

When you and everyone you've ever known has lived at the bottom of a poor and corrupt society, you cannot even imagine what the top is. It was the delusion that, should they be fortunate enough, they would make it to the top of society where kings and queens sat upon their thrones and any form of suffering would be far from them.

That was the original dream of her master, a dream dreamed in innocence though, looking back on it now, Road had never heard anything more ridiculous and she was all the more stupid for believing in it.

Wonderland is a place where the scientific laws of nature are relative. Those who know off many laws are able to maybe even twist reality when they apply them. It is a nature affected by the observer and when an observer misuses one law for whatever reason, magic is created.

He never told his imperial witches his true name but after he brought magic to this world through a perverted law of science, he only wanted to be known as the wizard of oz.

An unusual name, yes but one that became famous and praised throughout the land of Wonderland.

No matter how hard she looked into her memories, she could never seem to find a resemblance between the wizard, a man praised as a god among the people and the man that had taken pity on four starving girls with no family, no home, nowhere else to go all those years ago.

Miranda was with them then.

Their little group of five started out small. They got money for doing magic tricks for children or running errands for farmers. Their new powers were what let them succeed in all this and for a while, Road, a mere child of twelve years at the time, felt genuinely happy, invincible like the sky was the limit.

Soon, their name spread. Far far too soon, they gained much popularity amongst the people. They finally had money, enough to by food, medicine, toys.

Road had always noticed that something was wrong with her master, the wizard. She knew that the reason that he never told them his name was because, after receiving his powers, he head completely forgotten it. She, a mere child knew full well that something was wrong but she kept quiet because she was selfish; Deep down, all she wanted was for the illusion of perfection to continue.

They had so much now. Chomesuke learned to play the piano and sing. Road learned how to read. Anita got the medicine she needed for her bone disease. Miranda found love in the shape of a blind light meister named Noise Marie. All this was brought about in their lives because they followed the wizard.

They thought that they would never see the day they would grow to regret that choice but it came like a squall upon their perfect lives and far too soon.

That day came when the wizard of oz made the decision to show his true power to the people of Wonderland to truly gain their respect, fear and loyalty. That day came when the wizard of oz grappled down the star called the Jabberwock.

This star was going to act as a source of power for wonderland and it would elevate the great city above all other.

It was a big and historic day that, according to him, would change everything. At the time, Road thought he might die because of how much power the ritual was going to take out of him. She was so innocent than that she feared such childish thing.

The king was against it but he feared the wizard like a child would the monsters under his bed and quickly gave him permission to do as he pleased.

She remembered that day like it was yesterday.

I

But what she didn't realize, being the child she was, was the true recipe to grapple something so great as a star.

The secret ingredient was time. Time was needed to close the distance between earth and the star, time was needed to grab the star and time was needed to bring it back to earth. Without time, the plan would be absolutely nothing but a dream.

Now think of this. What if one could steal time. What if someone could steal time to do something simple, maybe twenty four hours to travel across the city. If you traveled, yourself, you would lose twenty four hours you have on your own lifespan but what if, just what if you didn't have to do that?

What if you could steal time from someone else's?

One of the unfortunate side effects of magic is that it can feed off of one's heart and mind, maybe even one's soul which is why many witches or wizards would bond with a human who would take the side effect and help better transmute the magic instead.

This was nothing new. Stealing what makes human beings what they are is what magic I'd built on so, with the proper equations, why not use those very principles to steal time from another?

This is the truth of the matter. This is true priced star grappling.

Human sacrifice. Thousands of people killed, their lifespans drained for the sake of power beyond imagination.

Thousands of people were gathered in the city. The wizard of oz was responsible for transmuting the power into energy to grapple the star while Road and her sisters were responsible for killing every single one of the willing sacrifices of innocent citizens that were so enraptured by the Wizards Power, they would give up their own existence for this day.

It took twenty three hours. Each witch under the wizard was powerful enough to kill many men in seconds and it took twenty three hours for all the remaining three to kill every sacrifice.

There was so much blood, it flooded the city in rivers. There was so much blood, Road could swim in it and get swept away by the waves like she might in a large lake. There was so much blood, Road did not think her memory, heart, hands and mind would ever truly be free of it.

There was bloodshed like the world had never seen before and yet no one mourned because of the joy the remaining survivors felt to experience the new age of technology, wealth and power.

As part of the recipe, the Jabberwock needed to be bonded with a human to keep it grounded upon the earth. The first chosen vessel of many to come was a beautiful and innocent woman with golden hair. This woman never knew what had to be done to take the star and she never would because of how easily the people forgot about what they had done.

In some ways, it was disgusting to Road how she and her sisters of all people were the ones to remember. She despised hearing women speak of how this was a great future for their children when those same women sent their children to die by Road's and her sister's hands.

They may have been witches but they were still just people like anyone else. They could not just throw away and forget their humanity so easily.

Chomesuke and Anita had wondered why it was difficult to forget. They wondered if there was something wrong with them that made them remember so vividly every time they closed their eyes.

Their master, on the other hand, had the greatest understanding of what was done. He understood perfectly and yet nothing made him more happy and ecstatic than what was done to summon the star to wonderland.

Road knew something was very wrong. She knew and yet she did nothing.

The whole nation seemed to forget. They changed. They became wholeheartedly reliant on the Jabberwock's power, twisting society to the point that all was centered around it. Without the star, they would fall to nothing but with the grand star, within a few years time, they quickly became the richest, most powerful and most influential city on the continent.

The cities and regions other than Wonderland were slowly being destroyed by the pathogen epidemic caused by none other than the wizard himself when he ordered the harmful wastes that came from the stars alien matter to be poured into the water sources of those cities and regions.

And so the tables were turned. Wonderland became the top of society while the cities and regions that mistreated the poor with their wealth were brought low to the ground like nothing but dogs. In their weakness, they could never even dream to stand up to the wizard and his city.

It was all thanks to the wizard that things became this amazing for Wonderland but at what cost? The dream dreamed in innocence was intended to save the innocent people from poverty but if those very poverty stricken people lose their humanity, what does that dream serve to do but save monsters.

And so Wonderland became rich, powerful, feared amongst all the nations.

It was how the wizard wanted it. He wanted the fear of wonderland- no, of himself to spread and set into the bones of every soul in the continent till it was a commonplace and an irremovable part of society.

He wanted the fear to become a part of them for this reason and this reason alone; So that when he asked for something, they would give it to him without hesitation.

After all these years, that strategy was an almost perfect success and with it, the recipe was almost completed.

Come December, Wonderland would become the single greatest and only nation on the face of the continent and no one would be able to stop the wizard.

The wizard was going to grapple something ten times more powerful.

Road knew this and yet she remained loyal to the wizard of oz. Road knew this and yet she did-

-that Chomesuke would come back home after her vacation for one reason or another. She just had a deep seated feeling, rooted in the magic that connected them, that she would return.

She knew but she never expected her to be such a wreck, having purposely starved herself of blood for all the years she had been gone. Road had hoped the vacation would do her sister good and refresh her belief and trust in their master but it had appeared to have done anything but.

The distance had somehow led Chomesuke quite astray. Being away from the wizard for so long had made her forget all he had done for her and now she was nothing short of terrified of the man who had treated her as one of his beloved daughters.

Once she feasted on the blood of those chimera that attacked her, Road was quick to find out the reason why her sister's behavior had changed so much.

There was this boy, a young dormouse by the name of Lavi who was hired to guide a young light meister to Wonderland. Chomesuke had always been quite naive so the Lavi and his light hearted attitude seemed in her eyes something straight out of a storybook. He was like those cool rogue heroes she loved to read about so much so upon knowing him for only an hour, she instantly liked him.

Good hearted and naive little Chomesuke could not simply just let this Lavi and his client come to Wonderland in good conscience when she knew full well what was going to happen when they came here.

Unfortunately for her, Lavi came from a place just beyond the peaks of Nim where witchcraft was not well liked. When he had found out just what she was, he rejected her completely, despite how good of a friend she had been those past few months.

Road may have found Chomesuke an annoying cluts most of the time but her family was special. No one, especially no human got to make her cry and get away with it.

Chomesuke made her promise not to kill Lavi but Road knew a far better thing to do to hurt the brave little dormouse. She would take his cute little client and bring him to Wonderland where he would serve his purpose.

One might say it was Road's specialty to find what would truly hurt her enemies the most. On top of that, she found the look of vulnerability and pain when she found it sweeter that all the candy in the world. It was almost addictive.

The best part about the plan was that she could pick off one of the last straggling meisters, something very important to the wizard.

Of course, once Chomesuke heard what had happened, she was quite upset but she immediately leapt through her own portal to assist that dormouse with any injuries he may or may not have gotten during the battle either Road.

Road did not see any need to check up on her. As long as that little light meister was here in wonderland, it didn't really matter what Chomesuke did with Lavi but should he make her cry again, Road would pay him another much less friendly visit.

Perhaps she would take his other eye, should that time come. That thought made her laugh. The jaded goodness she saw in them disgusted her so it would be a pleasure to gouge out the last-

-surprised her how the light meister managed to stay away from any watch tower, any soldier, anything that would let her track him. Somehow, Lavi had managed to keep the boy safe from her clutches for so long that they had made it to Wonderlands border undetected.

Even in her annoyance, she was quite impressed. Somehow, by some power she sensed that there was something special about the boy then and there but she payed it no mind: She had an awful habit of doing that.

Here and now, November was coming to a close far too soon and December was approaching fast. Now that the sacrifices were present, the ritual would surely happen just as her master had planned.

The evening was quiet that day in the royal palace of the King of hearts and his family as most of the, always were. Dust had gathered in thick greasy layers upon the polished white marble floors and the beautiful porcelain statues of women that stood watch by every corner, smiling like nothing was wrong.

The once beautiful orchids, the purple irises and the chaste lilies of the valley, in the glass vases lining these halls had lost their color to time long ago. They lied weak, leaning halfway out of the vase, the strength in their stems gone. The once wonderfully scented and beautifully colored petals had shriveled up like a dried rag, crusty and brittle baring a scent only of death.

Cobwebs and hideous hairy spiders lined the golden patterns depicting the adventures of historic figures, the beauty of nature or beautiful scenes on the walls. They roamed the castle freely and happily without anyone stopping them despite the fact that there was nothing there for them to prey on. It was almost as though they were just omens of death.

Some might think the carpet pathway that traveled far across the cold marble was red but even Road remembers the time when that carpet was white. Every inch was merely stained by the last reminders of once very disobedient servants or nobles.

Any servants left alive were either too scared or far too taken by illness to dare leave their beds and attend to the disgusting state the castle was in but they knew that it would just return tomorrow as filth followed the wizard wherever he went, almost as though it was his own shadow.

This castle have been built from the ground up and designed for the king of hearts and his family many years ago but in recent years, the man had become nothing but a useless puppet to the Wizards every whim and everyone knew by now that the puppet made of cloth and stuffing was not the one who ran the city.

The wizard was king now and his loyal witches were his beautiful queens and no human was capable of changing-

-disrupted by a loud bang that echoed through the vast empty spaces of the shaken room as a small door on the side was forced open and slammed loudly against the wall.

The door led to a narrow winding stairwell that led to a dark and damp dungeon with a terrible rat infestation.

No light ever entered that chamber and from the shadows emerged one of the beautiful queens of Wonderland themselves and the youngest of all four of them.

Road stumbled out of the shadows and into the well lit hall like there was something that had frightened someone as powerful as her down in the dungeon. She was pale, her breathing heavy, an essence of emotional she had not felt in so many years going across her dark face.

She clawed her way across the hallway to the adjacent side practically on all fours like a frightened animal till her back hit the wall. Once that happened, she let her back slide down the wall till she was sitting.

Even though nothing had chased her up here, even though there was no logical reason for her to be so frightened, the feeling did not pass and her heartbeat did not slow down.

In that dungeon, she knew full well that a loyal nurse was attending to the wounded light meister. She had hid the joy their in hopes that the wizard would not hit or punish her for her mistake back on the border. It was a good idea. If it weren't for that nurse, the boy would have died in a matter of minutes and the punishment would have been far worse so all Road could hope to do was close the wound and make it appear as though the light meister lost his arm years ago.

The unfortunate side of things was that the half mute boy refused to be treated. He struggled violently and tried his very best to burn Road and the nurse with stray and uncontrolled lasers. He just kept asking for that Lavi person like that pathetic dormouse could ever help him.

It was all completely ridiculous and bloodstains were smeared all over Roads already burnt dress and the nurse's pure white gown.

Blood was all over everything so it only made sense that, one way or another, it would get into someone's mouth. Road was a witch whose natural instinct was to thirst after blood and the odd quality she sensed made it all the more appetizing.

All it took was a single drop of crimson blood from her fingertip to her tongue.

Just one drop to show her everything.

What she tasted in that blood was what had scared her, the imperial witch of mass out of the room.

What she tasted in that blood was probably the last thing she ever expected to taste.

It was simple, really.

She just tasted the DNA of two very familiar faces.

The blood she tasted was that of Miranda, her sister and Noise Marie, her husband.

Stupid Miranda, the grand witch of time.

Stupid Miranda, possibly the most powerful and kind hearted witch of them all.

Stupid Miranda, the sister Road had not seen the face of in years.

Stupid Miranda who had barricaded herself up in the time rift of a storm in grief after the people of Nol murdered her child.

It was impossible when Road really thought about it but when she didn't, she wondered why something so impossible wouldn't happen in this ridiculous land of magic and mystery and riches and-

-children.

When a witch or wizard is turned, in most cases their age freezes.

Road became a witch when she was twelve so she was too young to have children.

Chomesuke had been injured on her stomach when she was a human, something she never quite recovered from mentally, and it left her incapable of having children.

Anita had a rare brittle bone disease that caused her to be born infertile so she could never have children.

And then there was Miranda.

Miranda was different. She spent her early years as a maid for a cruel local man. He may have beat her continually but her job as a made protected her from the horrors that came with unemployment. She was fed, housed and protected in that mans house up until he died. A month after that, she was left starving and dying in the woods and that's where the wizard found her.

She was healthy, strong and perfectly capable of bearing a child.

Road thought, at first at least, that that was the reason that man called Noise Marie loved her. She was soon proven wrong when she saw just how good of a heart the man had. He loved Miranda and he lived Miranda with his whole being. That could not be denied no matter how perverted and tasted nature became.

The baby was born several years before the Jabberwock was grappled.

They started seeing less and less of Miranda when news of the baby Miranda had hidden for so long spread throughout wonderland like a wildfire.

Chomesuke and Anita were excited about the baby and very happy for the happy couple. They were looking forward to dressing the boy in cute clothes and poking his big cheeks. They had hardly even so much as seen a baby before so they were understandably excited.

Road, on the other hand, didn't like the situation very much because of how angry and aggressive Miranda and Noise got whenever Road had asked questions about the baby. It was like they thought that being parents gave them a right to be rude here's or that their parenthood suddenly made them delusional and they genuinely thought she would hurt the baby if she got too close.

Road personally thought Miranda was being selfish because Anita genuinely wished she herself could have a child. She had gotten what none of the others could ever have, a normal life and a family, and yet she flaunted it like she was in any way deserving of such a-

-smiled when she heard the news that the baby drowned in the ocean.

She remembered that day vividly.

The wizard of oz had woken them up at three in the morning and told them to all come into the dinning room so that he could tell them something important. Road genuinely had no idea what was going on and had dragged her cover and teddy bear along with the fullest intention of falling asleep in the middle of whatever lecture her master was going to give.

She never liked it when he lectured them like he was their father but now she missed it far too terribly.

He told them exactly what had happened.

The wizard told them about how their sister and her husband had taken the baby to the large ocean town of Nol. The people had welcomed them out of fear but once they saw the baby, they were enraged.

In the night, they stole the baby and drowned him in the river.

Miranda, in her grief, entered into a time rift,one she could not return from unless she herself willed to leave. The ocean that Nol made all its riches from was frozen in a perpetual violent storm and any ship that dare cross the ocean again was destroyed, all the sailors on board would drown.

He spoke of what had happened like it were a grave tragedy.

The wizard told them that they might never see their sister again.

Apparently Noise Marie had disappeared after the event. The wizard said that he did not know his location but if any of the witches were able to locate him, they should tell the wizard because he believed he had some part in what happened to Miranda and their child.

Anita cried at the news while Road nearly pulled a muscle in her face keeping herself from laughing.

She genuinely believed that this was what mat uneducated folk called karma.

But she always thought it weird and unusual that Miranda's beloved husband disappeared after what had happened. Road didn't like him but she knew he wasn't the type to just abandon everything like that.

A part of her wanted to think that it was because he was just a rotten man inside all along but she never quite fully believed that idea whole heartedly.

But to make matters more unusual, when Noise Marie did return, he returned in the massive hordes of people to be sacrificed to grapple the star, the Jabberwock several years later. If he tried to hide in those masses, he was not doing a good job as his presence among thousands of others still seemed to stick out like a sore thumb.

But what made Road forget most of the hatred she harbors for the man was that that was one of the first times she watched the wizard of oz openly contradict himself.

Instead of letting the man get sacrificed as he seemed to want to be, he took Noise down to the torture chambers.

Four days later, Road was lucky to catch a glimpse of the man's corpse being carried out to be burned with the rest of the bodies left from the ritual. He was a light meister so he was already weak enough to die from an accident but the torture he endured seemed to be very particular and specific.

His face and body were distorted and bruised till the point that he wasn't recognizable and all a Road could bring herself to think was that Miranda was alive and the wizard, for whatever reason, had just murdered her beloved husband for seemingly no reason.

Was it because-

-again. She didn't have a choice, not when a possibility like her sister's child somehow surviving was presented before her.

The girl took a deep yet shallow breath as she pressed the palms of her delicate hands against the cold marble floor and her feet against the carpet, letting the fibers run in between her toes. After a moment or two of silence, she breathed out slowly through her nose.

It was a method of relaxation she learned throughout the years.

Road would drink a quart of the boys blood and eat a pound of his raw flesh if she had to until the idea was either proven false or valid. Surely, she would know the truth.

Witches like her were far superior at taking human life but she fad no idea it was this bad.

What were even the chances that she would run into him even if the child was alive, well and on his way to wonderland himself like the blood in his veins called him back?

She pushed hard against the ground and got to her feet, feeling far less disgusting and vulnerable now that her head was cleared and the panic had faded as though it had never been.

She called it pure luck that no one was in the hallway when she came up.

Was that why he was able to break out of her paralasys incantation back at the border? Was he truly the blood child of an imperial witch?

How had Chomesuke missed it? Surely Lavi had not protected the light meister so much so that a drop of his blood had not so much as hit the ground. Had she forgotten the scent of her sister in a mere handful of years? Was she really incapable of sensing it? Had she just not wanted to?

Were the imperial witches, supposedly some of the wisest and certainly the most powerful women around, truly so easily blinded by their own emotions and human hearts that they could miss something like Allen?

She sighed heavily as she pulled her small arms over her head and stretched. So many questions ran through her head right now, one might think she was just a curious little child again.

If she didn't know herself better, she might think she were scared, being that if all that is true, than she had nearly fatally injured the blood child of possibly the most powerful witch of them all.

But one thing she forced herself to remember was that Miranda, the imperial witch of time, was gone. If she didn't come back from the time rift she locked herself in to protect her beloved hs and with her life, she did not think Miranda would come back to save her child.

Road had nothing to fear because Miranda had abandoned everything. She might as well have been dead.

On the other hand, why would a sadistic monster like Road even have to fear when she was under the protection of the wizard, the most powerful man on earth? The thought was almost a joke now.

Letting her arms fall back to her sides limply, she bit back a bitter laughter and pushed her feet forward.

She had nothing to fear.

The doorknob felt cold under her fingertips, almost as though it had electrocuted her without her knowing, as she turned it and pulled the door from the doorframe lightly, whining in response.

Road was now face to face with the choking and intoxicating shadows that filled the small dungeon some feet below.

She couldn't hear the nurse working but she knew she was still aiding the injured light meister. The nurse, Mahoja was a warrior and a healer who had been to the battlefield many times. She was very well known and good at her line of work, so much so that she was recommended to Road by Anita herself.

She had faith in her and quickly began her descent down the winding staircase.

The witch felt a faint vibration in the bottoms of her feet. It was a simple distraction brought upon by the puddles of water on every steel step. To keep herself from slipping, just for dignity's sake, she had to use her control over mass to keep the water from her skin by a faint magical vibration.

She was thankful for the distraction. It let her keep her courage.

It creaked under her feet nonetheless, which alarmed the nurse, Mahoja of her coming back down the stairway yet again.

"Mistress Road?" She heard the woman say.

"Stay where you are." Road spoke clearly and coldly to exemplify her point as she reached the bottom of the stairwell and stepped off onto the concrete floor of the dungeon, "If you are truly loyal to either me or either of my sisters, you will stay right where you are."

The entrance Road had came through led to an opening in the lower left corner of a long, perhaps fifty five feet long, but very thin, and twelve feet wide, dungeon. It was small and placed near the middle of the castle because it was only intended as a place of punishment for servants who misbehaved rather than actual criminals.

Because of how few disobedient servants there were in recent years, it was always abandoned so Road thought it the perfect place to hide the cute little light meister.

The ceiling was only about ten feet high but because of the shadows, the dueling seemed to be a never ending nights sky rather than an unusual piece of architecture.

The wall were made from smooth black flint. The floors were made from a rough sort of crumbly concrete with a musky and smoke like scent. There were never bugs or spiders in this area, despite its filth. They just never dared come into this room for reasons even Road would never know.

In the the back of the dungeon, rusted brass fences like the walls of a cage cut the area into sections; ten of them, to be exact.

Mahoja knew how to control her breathing and how to be as silent as an assassin along with Road so it was easily heard that there was a third individual with them from the sound of sharp and ragged breathes that filled the air.

Road proceeded to walk her way back into the first stall where she immediately caught sight of Mahoja, a tall woman with no hair and dark skin. She was standing at a distance from what the imperial witch had brought to this dungeon out of respect.

She stepped out of the way of the sad little scene that was the mysterious light meister, Allen who's limp body was propped up against the smooth walls. If it weren't for the frequent and heavy rising of his chest as he breathed raggedly like a fish out of water, one might think the boy was dead.

His long and sweaty locks of white hair like those of an old man hid his face from view but Road could smell his fear. It was not fear for get because he was not quite in his right mind to know who she was or that she wa even here at all. What he felt was a natural fear that his heart might stop beating at any second, that he might bleed to death from the wound left when his arm was take, that what he was taking into his lungs was not air but rather lukewarm water.

He had fallen into a brutal shock not a few moments after she removed arm at the border but it only got worse as time went on, when his brain began to truly comprehend that his arm was missing. He hadn't really said much beyond Lavi's name over and over like a chant, like he could summon the pathetic dormouse through a magical incantation.

It was almost as though the cute little light meister truly believed that if Lavi were here, the dormouse would save him and all would be alright yet again. Road frowned when she realized it, though a childish thing, was a dream dreamed in innocence so he blinked to it desperately.

The bloodied stump that once connected his shoulder to his arm had been treated and bandaged up to the best of the ability of a nurse like Mahoja but Road was sure that the shock may have been more dangerous at this point.

That's why she kept the nurse by him at all times to make sure this situation was kept away from the ears of the wizard and to make sure that nothing took this boy's life before December if it was even the boys fate to die there.

"It is not my place to ask," Mahoja said suddenly with her head held low, "But why had you left before, mistress Road?"

"You're right, it is not your place." Road snapped back almost reflexively.

"My apologies, mistress Road." The nurse retracted immediately.

A silence ensued as Road approached the boys small form and knelt before him. With her back to Mahoja, she began to speak.

"I have a question for you, Mahoja."

Mahoja raised an eyebrow, "A question?".

"A rhetorical one, of course."

"What is it you wish to ask, mistress Road?"

Another silence but this one was filled with thought; Mahoja wondering just what the imperial witch of mass had to ask a human soldier like her and Road wondering if this was the proper action to take.

Nonetheless, Mahoja listened and Road let her words fall from her normally sealed lips effortlessly.

"Let's say…. Let's say you met someone….Someone very dear to you who, even though you didn't deserve it, gave you anything and everything life had to offer and more. You remained loyal to this special person because of this and you never left their side because of this. They promised… They promised you that it was yours to keep for the rest of your time on this earth, so…." She spoke almost as though she were unsure of what she was really saying and yet she continued, "So you thought it belonged to you now but…. What if that same person changed. What if that person who you loved for all they had done for you tried to take away all they had given you, all they had promised and they began hurting your family. What if they tried to take away what they had no right to give or take away. Should you defend it? Should you remain loyal even when they destroy the only reason you were ever loyal?".

"This question…"

"Please…. Please answer…."

Mahoja's hesitation to answer her unusual question was understandable as she was a loyal soldier of wonderland and one of the most powerful people in wonderland was currently questioning if she would give up that loyalty for family, friends and happiness.

Road didn't have to see her face to know that.

It made the witch all the more bitter about all that her world had come down to. Mahoja, though cold to her comrades and those around her, still held her humanity close while Road had lost any remaining remnant of her own long ago in a fleeting passion of the heart.

She was a mere child when she was thrown into the riches the wizard had made for her. The girl became spoiled rotten very quickly when she realized nothing was out of her reach. Perhaps that was why she felt such burning hatred towards Mahoja in that moment because no matter how much power Road had, she could never buy back the fulfillment of a good heart.

The girl sighed heavily.

Mahoja would not answer because she did not know how to answer so Road answered for her.

"It Is because of that answer," She whispered softly, "That I want you to stay and witness all that is to come."

In the silence, she knew the woman was relieved.

"A-As you wish, mistress Road."

With that final word, Road turned her attention back to the boy in front of her.

That basic skeleton of a plan still stood even after what she learned in the past hour but now their was something she was desperately curious about.

She would learn this one thing before she put the boy into Mahoja's care full time but after that, she would not lay eyes on the boy until December and that would probably be the final time.

All she asked was for a few answers. Answers were something she should never be denied.

She pressed the index finger and middle finger of her right hand together and kissed them. After letting them linger on her lips for a moment, she removed them and brought them to Allen's sweat covered forehead.

The unusually painless ritual was completed just like that.

Now, as the imperial witch of mass, an ability Road often used was neuro searching. It was actually the same thing she used on Chomesuke to get the whole story on Lavi.

The idea is that while the person is in a state of shock or delusion where they are easily influenced, Road places a piece of her magic into the active parpt of their brain and asks them certain question.

You see, when asked about what your favorite kind of fruit is, in your mind an image of your favorite fruit, the name of the fruit and the taste of the fruit all come to mind but you may choose not to voice these things. However, Road would put a piece of her magic in the active part of the mind that makes these images come up so that when it does its purpose, it will effect the magic and, in turn, affect what the magic voices.

Once this had happened, the boys ragged breathing seemed to even out and his heartbeat began to slow.

The magic Road had placed in Allen's mind took effect almost immediately. To outsiders, it appeared as though nothing had happened but Road felt the peer inside the boy's mind and that's what prompted her to say her next words as she cupped his cold cheek with her hand.

"Can you hear me?"

A moments silence was far from any comfort. The boy's body stood still at rest like that if a porcelain doll in an almost serene scene.

Nonetheless, she waited.

Soon, the response came as words no more audible than a faint breath.

"Yes…" Allen breathed so so very softly.

Road smiled victoriously. Even if he was a wizard by blood, no one on earth could break through her magic. She always got her way when it came to this.

"Good, now Allen," She continued to ask, "Why have you come to Wonderland?"

Another silence as the magic and Allen's brain processed her words.

"...Papa…"

The imperial witch was taken back. Did he say papa? Papa, as in father?

If her theory was correct, Noise Marie was his biological father. Noise was a light meister, just like the boy and the husband of Miranda, the only imperial witch capable of bearing children. If by papa, he meant Noise, that would explain quite a few things that Road had always wondered, such as what Noise had been doing all the years he had been missing but it also opened up several new questions far more necessary to answer.

"Allen, could you father see?"

"Papa… No… Eyes…"

That just about confirmed it. When Noise was young and could not properly control his lasers, he accidentally destroyed his eyes. Despite this fact, Miranda still loved him for who he was.

It could have been a coincidence but Road highly doubted it.

So she continued her assault of questions.

"Did your… Father tell you to come here?"

"Yes…." Allen muttered, his delirious speech changing tones with every word almost as though he were singing his responses, "To… Find…. Papa… Here…"

Road instantly found that response suspicious. Why would Noise tell him to travel to wonderland? Why tell him to go alone when he had traveled here himself, and so many years after he had died?

Come to think of it, why did the wizard kill Noise so many years ago if the child was still alive? Had he told the wizard that the child had died? If the child wasn't dead, then why had Miranda locked herself in a time rift to begin with? Could Noise have had a part in what put her in a time rift to begin with? What reason would he even have to do that?

As a witch loyal to the wizard of oz by ties of power and love, these questions she asked were not things she should ask as they shook the very foundation of her loyalty. It surprised her how desperately she wanted answers as there was still a piece of her that was strong enough to question the man, just a single shard of her heart that still resisted complete domination.

"What did he say to you specifically."

"Don't…. Remember…"

"Allen, what did your father tell you to do?"

"To find him-!"

Suddenly, Road lost control of her hands in an adrenaline rush of anger. She shot forward and wrapped her hands around his throat, making sure to squeeze just enough for it to hurt but not enough to do damage.

"If a pathetic creature like you," She growled in rage, knowing how easy it would be to separate his head from his shoulders, "Is the child of the imperial time witch than you can refine your memory and tell me exactly what he said, Allen!"

He was silent and she only grew all the more angry.

Road may have appeared the villain in this situation, but in her heart, she was panicking. The foundation her world was built upon was crumbling too fast for to comprehend and she didn't know really quite how to prepare herself.

She may have been a child one but not anymore. Now she deserved to know exactly what was going on. She would find her way out of the shadows of ignorance even if she had to fight her way out tooth and nail.

Perhaps this was fate's silly way of giving someone like her redemption long before she knew just how much she truly needed it.

And so, when Allens next words emerged from his voice as clear as the summer day, Roads foundation truly crumbled and her heart broke.

The words he spoke were those of Noise Marie. There was no denying it.

"Allen, my son. Today I will go to wonderland, a place corrupted by unimaginable evils. Perhaps I will see you again one day but know this. I have protected you from that man for this long but today I will take your place this time so that you may live a few years in peace but if this bloodshed happens again, and it will happen again, you are to find your way to wonderland. You are to go to wonderland and avenge all the people who were killed for the sake of power because you are the only one who can. You will go to take the life of the man who banished your mother to a time rift when she protected you. You will go to kill the man who will kill me for doing the same. You will go to kill the man known as the-

-hordes of people united by a false doctrine created by a man who had the ambitions of becoming a god. That Road knew was anything but a dream dreamed in innocence.

Millions of people, the citizens of this grand city filled the gold paved streets and pooled in the center of the city in front of the grand royal palace.

Children too young to truly comprehend the Wizards power and the elderly who should have known better than to hold him on such a pedestal looked to the wizard who stood at the podium to speak as though he were divine.

On this fall day, under clouded skies, the people of wonderland looked to a fraud for words of wisdom and guidance.

Somehow, the spectacle of the masses of people diluting themselves was familiar. They were a band of pathetic narcissists who cared for no one but themselves do when a man of great power gave them all they desired and called them the greatest country on the continent, despite the fact that they had done nothing to deserve it, of course they followed him.

The wizard was a seemingly human looking man with skin as white as freshly fallen snow, sharply contrasting the robes of gold and purple he adorned himself with.

At his left were the imperial witches of mass and light, Anita and Road but at his right was only one, the witch of space, Chomesuke. The imbalance stood out like a scar, an ever present reminder of the witch they had lost long ago. It was something they could not forget no matter how hard they tried.

There was a time when Road would have thought the same way.

Now her entire comprehension of reality was tainted with a harsh disgusted.

Any respect or love she may have held for the man that stood at the podium was now like a distant memory for the mere fact that the man feared losing all he had made for himself here because of the birth of a child he could not control so he hurt Roads family. His vanity image was so fragile like that of glass so he had betrayed the people he held close to him like daughters.

Road was anything but stupid. It did not take her long to realize just he stupid she had been all this time.

It was just this simple. The witches could never kill the wizard as their powers were completely under his control but Allen was different. He was not given powers by the wizard or his witches but rather, he was born with them and the strain of pathogen he was infected it's only made it all the more different. In short, the wizard could not control the child so an infant was considered a threat to his life. In fear, he met his witch and her husband at a far away town and attempted to kill the child before he got too powerful. His witch defended the child and stalled him enough so that her husband and the child could escape to a far away land. Because of her sacrifice, the wizard banished her to a time rift.

When Noise Marie returned to the land, the wizard tortured him in an attempt to get the location of the boy he had searched for for so long. In his rage, he killed Noise. He was like a spoiled child breaking his toy when he was angry.

Now that child was back without the man's knowledge to fulfill the mission given to him by his father. To take the Wizard's life.

Roads family never had problems. Her sisters were never disobedient. They were good girls and he hurt them anyway.

Slaughtering thousands for the sake of grappling the Jabberwock was nothing but small stain on Roads clear conscious. She cared nothing for human life and had lost faith or love for the species long ago. She did not care about the sacrifices.

The only thing that held value to Road after all these years was her family and whoever made her sisters cry and hurt those important to them would face her wrath, even if it was the one who had given her a family to begin with.

The wizard of oz had lied to her and deceived her sisters and for that alone, she hated him to her core.

All Road knew was that she had to do something, anything to make the deceiver hurt. She promised herself that she would but in her rage she could not think clearly enough to pinpoint what would hurt the man the most.

Her fists were clenched tight till they almost hurt but loosened only when she felt a soft and familiar touch on her forearm.

She turned to meet her Anita's soft but noticeably fearful gaze. She was understandably scared because Mahoja had told her all she had seen and heard. Her pain was the same as Road's and in that, she found comfort.

Anita did not want to draw anyone's attention, especially not the Wizards so she spoke in a quiet whisper. She was always so cautions and grown up that way. It was quite admirable.

"Perhaps…" She whispered so softly, the corners of her eyes wet with tears she had cried, "Perhaps it would be best to do nothing…"

Rage suddenly spiked violently in Roads chest as she flinched away from Anita's soft touch only for her sister to reach out and grab her arm forcefully.

"Listen," She insisted, "We can do nothing, so perhaps we should become mere observers. Our meddling is what brought this…. The about to begin with so perhaps we should only watch and let what happen happen. If nature should favor our master-"

"That man is not our-!"

"If nature should favor that man," She continued, meaning every syllable with every fiber of her being, "Than let that be, but if nature should… Should slow that boy to do what we all deemed impossible, then we will watch and do nothing. That will be our vengeance, dear sister."

The boiling blood in her veins seemed to cool at her sister's words and the muscles in her arms loosened.

Anita was right.

Interfering would only lead to them that know the truth dying a pathetic death but if that boy were to do what his father wanted, then it would be Roads absolute pleasure to watch that man that once held all her live and loyalty, die miserably and painfully like an animal

Anita released her arm once she realized she had calmed down but before she could back away, Road leaned forward and cupped her soft pale cheek.

"Anita," Road whispered softly, her eyes downcast, "Thank you for staying with me…"

For a moment, Anita looked shocked. Road had never said something that to her but her shock was quickly replaced by a smile of pure warmth.

"Same to you Road." She whispered before going back to her assigned place by the Wizards podium, "What are sisters for…."

Roads heart was quelled but her thirst for vengeance was far from quenched.

Come December, the fate of Wonderland would come to light but till then, Road and her sisters could only hope and pray.

The crowd soon went up in deafening cheers and oaths of loyalty when the wizard began to speak to the sea of sheep before him.

"Great people of Wonderland,"

"You all remember the historic day when this amazing city was made the greatest of them all, when the Jabberwock was grappled from the sky, but what you were not informed of what that this was just a piece, a mere step in a bigger and greater plan."

"The law that brought magic to the continent was that for every action, there is an equal or opposite reaction. This is the prime law of my magic."

"When the star was grappled, the equal and opposite reaction was this; In the Jabberwock's place is a darker much more powerful star, referee to most who know of its existence as the Emerald City."

"The difference between this dark star and the Jabberwock is that the Jabberwock is a star that gives light, a star of creation while the Emerald City steals light and is, there for, a star of destruction. It is immensely more powerful than the Jabberwock and with it in the great city, no enemy will ever be able to oppose us and we will truly become the greatest city of all."

"Come December, the ritual will be held and I will grapple the grand dark star, the Emerald City!"

And so the crowd erupted in cheers because they were just that wicked a people.

History could say what it wanted about them, about what they did and all they became, but Road, the imperial witch of mass, could rest assured that one fact would never change.

It was truly the-


	14. December

(I just want to say thank you to everyone who's stuck with this story and supported it for so long. It's been almost a years since I began and it's thanks to your encouragement and kind comments that this tale is reaching its close. I was considering giving up on it some months ago as a few of you might know so I just want to thank you all for being there and pushing me to finish what I started. I love you all very much and God bless every one of you. I truly love writing stories like these for you and I look forward to doing more for you in the future. Fun fact, I love December. I love Christmas, Hanukkah, New Years, the snow and my birthday which is on Christmas Eve. Anyways, I own nothing except the plot and the oc, which is the wizard. I hope you enjoy! Good day and God bless!)

In Wonderland, despite its appearance of never ending riches, there is an issue with the quality of living. It isn't a matter of poverty or corruption in the government or even poor planning. The Wizard evenly distributed the wealth and living space of the nation to all citizens co that no one person would lack any good thing anyone else had. Theoretically, this society should be perfect, the epitome of peace and harmony but somehow, when what was left of the Wizard's heart and mind was lost in the passage of time, he had forgotten the factor of human nature and all that makes a human who he is.

It's only natural for man to hunt for food, find shelter, have families and give reverence to God. It is only human nature to desire to work for their daily bread, to dream of climbing up in society, to have the unreachable illusion of others with better lives dangled in front of you to keep you running through this life. It brings the human race an almost childlike happiness to accomplish great things. The fact that they can accomplish is the reason they dream, breath and dare live another day.

But just as it is natural to thirst for these things that bring about prosperity like one would thirst for water in the desert, it is just as natural to hate these things, to seek every possible way to avoid work and turmoil, to thirst for self destruction and the destruction of those beside you.

The concept is that, though humans find every way to avoid hardship and turmoil they don't find the least bit pleasurable, life puts these things in their path as an obstacle in front of what they truly desire. The human will clear the obstacle and achieve what they wanted but what they couldn't understand is that it was that obstacle that made victory taste sweet and it is because of that obstacle that victory was so worth it.

This is the flaw in the society created by the Wizard's reign upon Wonderland. He came like a squall, offering things such as technology, a healthy water source, pleasures and entertainment only the very wealthy could afford, efficient energy and shortcuts out of the daily obstacles in life. He eradicated poverty, making all men equal and unable to climb above one another. The wizard had convinced the city that they were superior to all other cities, that they did not need a god because they were their own god. He accomplished incredible things and incredible damages for that society, fulfilling every basic human need and more.

He did so much good next to his crimes against humanity that it became a crime in itself. The obstacles that made life so worth it and sweet like honey were removed and all that was left was for the people of Wonderland, who had nothing to complain about or desire in life, to look straight into their own emptiness as the meaningless of their lives slowly crushed them.

Suicides and homicides skyrocketed for a reason that a people deprived of their humanity could not explain. Tourism decreased rapidly because humans gradually began to despise the emptiness of the society that all held in such high esteem. Children were unable to concentrate and began to fail in school. The normally diligent people of the workplace quit their jobs inexplicably because they couldn't find any meaning in it anymore. Youths who lacked no good thing began to lie, steal and kill because the morality they grew up on began to fray.

Wonderland, the most prosperous city on the continent, was falling apart, eating itself up from the inside because of the basic nature of the humans the Wizard had dehumanized so far to the point that murder was hardly even frowned upon anymore.

Because of the sins of the man called the Wizard of oz, the once iron foundation of his empire was rusted away into a pile of rubble, his princes and princesses reduced to nothing but fat children begging to be put out of their misery.

Even if a hero with a golden heart didn't rise up from the masses to free them, the Wonderland the wizard made would have destroyed itself and torn itself to pieces like a mad dog.

But to the good fortune of the pitiable people, the source of their earthly pleasures and the fraud they once worshiped would be stripped of his golden crown and knocked off his golden throne.

It was just good that the mighty would fall. It was only meant to be that the kings of the earth would be brought low. It was only how things should be that evil should be slain because everyone may strive, but they will never become a god, they will only succeed in becoming a devil and evil will never win, never truly.

It was that day in December when the wizard had promised his power eternal that the people of Wonderland were freed from the chains they welcomed and the wizard was brought down.

The instrument of that beautiful freedom that they had longed for for so long was in the city, but in the most unlikely place.

The young and tragic child of light destined to free them from what their bloodied hands had wrought wept silently in the bottom of the royal palace, his cries for help but mute and ragged breaths.

His small frame was on its side, huddled up in a corner like he were a mere rag doll thrown there by his owner.

The boy, Allen, had cried for so long, he did not think he had tears left but every night, when that nurse that called herself Mahoja left him alone in his quarters so that he could sleep in silence, he was proven wrong.

Sometimes, he would cry himself to sleep. Sometimes, he wouldn't sleep at all. Sometimes, he'd wonder if those horrible things he'd see at night, innocent people sick with the pathogen like him being torn apart by the guards, killing and hurting each other like animals, were just nightmares at all.

He wondered so many things in that small cage like room he was moved to and yet he silenced his curiosity because, when the guards would carry the body out, he did not want to remember who it was and the horrible way he knew they had died.

To be curious would mean to be willing to receive an answer, no matter how horrifying and cruel, and Allen was far from mature enough to accept anything like that, especially when he was alone.

Especially when there was no one by his side to tell him that things would be alright and make the pain go away. Was it so childish and selfish for him to think like that? Was he weak? Was that why he found himself trapped here to begin with?

His fervorous skin was sharply contrasted by the cold dungeon where he lay and the icy stones underneath him felt like daggers stabbing his flesh. The air stunk, having been polluted by the smell of blood and rotten oatmeal after continual years of use. Every breath felt like claws running down the side of his throat.

Another night. Another woman, a water meister, beat to death by a man, a light meister, for no reason at all. In one month, the same thing had happened almost five times. There never removed the man, only the body of the woman to replace her with another one. It was always a woman. The pathogen would differ but it was always a woman, an ignorant young lady who had no idea what cruel fate she would suffer, every single time.

Allen wondered if the guards did it on purpose, getting some sick entertainment from watching this crazed man beat women to death. It was not something he'd put beyond them as much as he hated to admit. His innocent and unmarred mind desired nothing more than to reject the sickening notion but he had seen those people who guarded this hellish prison; Their pupils were displayed to the size of olives and they never seemed to be in their right mind. They would sweat profusely even though it was quite cold outside, eat their meat raw and have sudden bouts of uncontrollable rage and borderline insanity where they would hallucinate and scream disturbing things at the top of their lungs.

If Allen were to drop the hateful lens and see them as mere human beings, he couldn't help but notice that they seemed sad, miserable but in denial about it, brainwashed and lost. It was almost as though they, to didn't want to be here guarding this prison, like they were just as imprisoned as Allen was and they took their anger out on those held here.

With either his view marred with hate or his view clear, it still didn't change the fact that there was a woman who once begged for her life in the little cell beside his as that man attacked her but now she was quiet as the grave and the man still hit her with all his might.

Allen exhausted every fiber of his body trying not to think about it too much.

He wanted to not listen to their pleas for help every night. He wanted to clamp his ears shut with his hands and forget for even mere moments but, as cruel fate would have it, he did not have enough hands to do even that, something so simple as choosing not to listen.

The bloodied stump where his arm used to be still hurt him. Sometimes the pain was so bad he thought he might pass out but Mahoja had insisted there was nothing wrong with him anymore and that he was just imagining it.

It still bled through the thin bandages the nurse put on it. She told him it should have healed up a bit more by than but Allen knew it would still bleed through because his body had been weakened so far by the pathogen. It didn't and wouldn't heal for the rest of the days he had left on this earth.

That would have frightened his at any other point in time but now he begged for death, anything to free him from this torment.

It had taken him four days to get over the worst parts of the shock. He didn't even remember a single moment of that time. It was like he was trapped in a horrid dream with no means or even a promise of escaping.

The shock fading was no less miserable. He snapped out of it only when he came to the harsh acceptance that his arm was gone and would never return no matter how much he begged it to.

It was not easy to accept. He still had yet to recover mentally. He trembled uncontrollably sometimes. All he wanted was to be a little less scared.

Once he became conscious, though, that large woman called Mahoja was waiting for him. In some ways, he was thankful for her explanation. He was thankful for the woman because she was quick to explain why he was there, why he was treated the way he was and when this torture would end.

"Listen dear child, you are here because, his lordship, the wizard of oz wanted to summon a second more powerful star, a dark star called the Emerald City but in order to do that, a great deal of human sacrifices are needed. The first time, thousands of citizens of Wonderland were sacrificed but it took a great toll on the population and city growth decreased. It was a necessary sacrifice as the other cities would never assist in such an endeavor but it will not be made again."

"...Liar…. Lying…"

"It's not a lie. His lordship, the wizard went to the other nations who were being plagued by the outbreak of the pathogen and, in his mercy, offered them a solution that would solve their problem forever."

"Shut… Up….Shut...Up…. Please..."

"The nations did accept the offer and they sent an imperial order to all their meisters to gather in Wonderland and be sacrificed to the dark star."

"N-No…! Not… True…. Lying….!"

"The meister are sick with an incurable disease. They are to die anyway but would it not be better for you to have the promise of dying for a good cause? This way, no one else has to die. The ritual can do only good for the continent."

She was correct. It was good.

Allen knew this best of all. The young light meisters days were limited, his life running to a close faster than he could even keep track anymore. Allen felt the weakness and death seeping into his weak bones, he knew his time was coming soon. It would practically be a kindness to give his death meaning. A practically invisible commoner with no worth in the world like himself should consider it an honor.

He knew this better than even the wisest man on the continent. He knew this so why did he feel so angry?

Why did he feel so angry that he and hundreds of others like him were called to the city stained with splendor and wealth that they had hoped would bring them happiness and, perhaps cure the pathogen, only to be brought to the city center to be slaughtered like mere pigs, like their were no hope for them.

Why did such fiery rage well up inside his chest till it burnt his rib cage, till it felt as though he would die if he kept it in a moment longer? Why did he contrast himself from the beginning of the year to him now at the end of it only to see his pathetic, unhealthy and miserable he had become?

He remembered smiling at the birds that would sing every morning like it were the first time he heard them. He remembered laughing at golden and diamond white koi as they frantically through themselves out of the water to get the bread he had thrown into their funny little mouths. He remembered crying out of joy, of all things when he caught sight of the beautiful multi colored and hand made candles strung up all over the city when annual holidays would come around.

When Allen compared himself to that weak, soft hearted, bright eyed child who found his contentment just beyond the peaks of Nim all those years ago, he could not help but laugh a bitter laugh that, rather than cheering him up, felt like acid in his lungs.

He laughed so miserably because it hurt. It was because, after being starved, beaten with metal rods when he misbehaved till he passed out, traumatized till he could hardly sleep at night, crippled, and treated crueler than he had ever been treated before, that happy little boy was hardly even recognizable. All that was left of him was a dried and broken husk, his feeling and love for nature and those around him squeezed out of him like one might squeeze bitter juice from a lemon.

When the shock had faded from his body, when the blood began to run steadily through his exhausted veins and when Mahoja, the nurse that was supposed to care for him and the only person who showed him kindness in these wretched days informed him of that bitter truth, he was moved to his current cell.

The silence and serene air of his original spacious dungeon had been discarded and traded for a small and empty little house with smooth walls and a thin but shingled roof overhead to keep the rain out; Just one of many cubicles that housed so many meisters just like him.

They were stuffy. The smelled like gasoline which made Allen long for the sweet and clean mountain air he once indulged in on his journey to get to this wretched place. Every night, the deafening sound of metal grinding together as machinery worked endlessly for some unknown purpose made it nearly impossible to sleep. The fear and anticipation of a sudden loud sound made him an insomniac just in time for the innocent woman in the cell beside him to get beaten to death.

In the very front of his cell was a large door made from the same smooth material as the walls. In the very center was a small round peephole not even large enough for him to stick his pinky finger into. He'd look through it sometimes as there was nothing else to do only to see an ashen gray valley of dead grass and stormy skies. He wanted to know why the grass was dead even though it rained so much but he had neither voice to void the question nor someone to hear it.

The smooth grey door was always locked and, to his knowledge, only Mahoja and the guards had the key to open it. It was only opened for tree occasions;

The first occasion was daily. It was when a prison guard would open the door, sharp blade in hand to keep Allen from escaping, and set a large bowl full of a sticky white clay and another with rather unclean water. The first day, Allen had no idea what he was supposed to do with it but after starving far too long, he soon realize that he was supposed to drink the water and the large amount of white coat was his food for that day.

That was not what he wanted as the white clay was disgusted and tasted like ashes but it was filling enough to keep him from dying if he managed not to choke on the dry and revolting substance. It was on days like these that he missed the delicious dishes from multiple different cultures he tasted on his journeys but even the red dirt from the city of Nol seemed delectable at this point. To this day he still had no idea what it truly was.

Allen was very sure the water was drugged with something that kept his pathogen from being all that active. He always felt very sluggish and sleepless after he drank the water and he didn't like it at all.

The second occasion was also daily but no details are required since it was a mere bathroom break. A guard simply came in and escorted him out of his cell at threat of a knife blade to a black house. It was disgusting and unsanitary.

One wrong move would make the seemingly twitchy guards electrocute someone. It smelled of death because on quite a few occasions, the guards would electrocute a meister to death and they would leave the corpse to rot there in its own excrements.

Allen had been electrocuted quite hard before simply because he slipped on what he wished was mud and the guards were, as usual, quite jumpy. He would come to consciousness in his cell a few hours later with a heavy headache, a swollen tongue and a difficulty remembering who he was exactly.

The third occasion was weekly. It was bath time. It should have been the best time of all as the meisters enjoyed a good twenty minutes of soaking themselves in the clean water of the showers but it it was anything but enjoyable.

Ten meisters went into a group shower at a time with guards standing at the doorways to watch them undress and shower, be the group of meisters male or female. The water was filthy and very cold. There was no soap or towels.

Sometimes the groups of meisters had boys and girls and they saw each other naked. It bothered Allen when this happened because after the shower, the men would always give the women odd and almost predatory looks. The young light meister thought it a bit unnerving and tried to pay as little attention to it as possible.

The reason why the weekly showers were so unenjoyable was because the gourds who watched them were equally as jumpy as those from the bathroom breaks and the showers were filled with water. In cases like these, guards would electrocute the prisoners who they thought got were misbehaving but in turn, the electricity would stop the hearts of every other meister in the shower and even the guards themselves. Allen had never seen one personally but he had watched almost robotic replacement guards remove the still steaming bodies of ten meisters and two suicidal guards from the showers.

It was on days like those that Allen had grave difficulty eating anything. Luckily, a rush of hunger always chased away the images just long enough for him to finish his platter of food. Once he was finished, his food and water was gone and all that was left was his disgust for himself.

So the bath times were more than any other occasion. Everyone who participated was fearful they and all the innocent people with them would lose their lives for no reason at all. It would be a meaningless and pathetic death, something Mahoja had convinced him to fear most of all.

Those were the three and only final occurrences occurrences that filled Allen's final days. Aside from the random beatings, that was it.

Though frightening, though every day he was afraid, it was agonizingly boring.

Perhaps it truly was his selfish and silly weakness as a mere child that the silence, the lack of excitement, the lack of friendly company he held dear and the complete lack of lively and bright hope he could see in the foreseeable future caused him so much misery. He could feel damage being inflicted upon his very mind because of the mere boredom and it made him feel so pathetic.

So pathetic, he thought he might puke.

The state he was in made him feel so ill because he knew it was why he was here to begin with and the dormouse he hired last year, Lavi was not coming to save him and thousands of other innocents from their imminent demise by the hands of a monster who wore a man's face; A monster who, for reasons unknown was so very familiar to Allen. It was like he had an instructive fear of the wizard of oz, like he had seen his sort of evil once before, a long long long time ago.

The cruel slaughter of innocent meisters and themselves should not he caused him so much grief. According to the nurse called Mahoja, it was alright to kill them all because they were already dying of a disease but Allen always found that explanation funny. Yes, meisters die prematurely because of their pathogen but every human being on earth dies eventually so, according to that logic, the murder of thousands of healthy individuals is perfectly justified because they all die eventually. That would never be logical to Allen.

He was a firm believer in a concrete right and wrong and that belief would not be shattered so easily. His concentration and understanding might fade like ashes blown away in the wind, basic things like exhaustion or hunger may disappear, but surely something so vital to all that made him him like his morals would last the longest, even as his spirit was destroyed in this terrible place.

Sometimes he would wonder if the things he saw and the melodies he heard were real. He wondered if the shocked had never faded and the hysteria that plagued him was just a hallucination created from his fevered mind. Allen would see things he knew could never be real; he saw angels in the sky, demons just around the corner, the face of his father he hardly remembered, the lullaby of a mother he never met in the wind and he saw a bit of Crimson red in the ashen grey valleys just beyond his door and he wondered if his dear friend had finally come to save him from this wretched place.

He waited for hours till a dreamless and restless sleep stole those hours. None of the things he saw came to save him.

He felt it in his blood, in his bones, in his flesh, in his spirit. He was completely and utterly alone here. When he cried, there would be no one to help him. When he bled, there would be no one to heal the child's wounds.

It was because he knew he was alone that he did exactly what he was told. He was to scared, too cowardly to dare do otherwise.

Allen, the young light meister, did not save the poor people he knew needed help because he was too frightened of the evil that surrounded him.

He had truly become quite pathetic now.

It was a sickening sight to witness innocence degrade to this state.

In the silent little cell the boy was trapped in day after day after day, Allen began to think, hoping his thoughts would keep him company at least, hoping the insanity and cold sweats that came with it would be kept at bay at least.

Uncountable fresh hours plucked straight from sleepless were spent in his thought because he truly had nothing else to do.

He recounted silly and meaningless conversations he had with complete strangers and Lavi and repeated them in his head word for word, over and over just to hear his friend's voice as much as possible. Unfortunately, the more he did that, the more he forgot his friends voice and the memories were replaced with Allen's own voice. He didn't dare recollect any of it after that.

After that, picturing the most beautiful images he had ever seen seemed alluring. He'd lay on his side, press one ear against the cold floor and close the other with his hand. He closed his eyes as tightly as he could and then he pictured it, beautiful golden sunlight peeking out over the edge of silhouetted mountains, vibrant violet geysers shooting into a midday sky, mountains of delicious food given to him by a kind woman and her husband, everything. It gave him peace for a short while, he didn't know how long and, for a few moments, he forgot about where he was.

But soon the boy found that the illusions he surrounded himself with for comfort began to fade and crumble one by one. The images he tried to picture so clearly were unclear and blurred like a distant image being reflected upon a hectic water's surface.

He couldn't turn to his memories for strength. He could hardly even remember what they were when all he saw was a faint white stain upon an unredeemable canvas of grey.

He couldn't see anything before now, no matter how hard he tried.

A hundred times, he'd go over the events that occurred in his life, just so he could recall the timeline, just so that he wouldn't forget what it was that brought him here, what it was that made him continue on this path and what was that changed him just at the end.

He thought about Lavi, the dormouse he summoned all his curious to hire that one faithful day and the dear friend he kept with him all those days that followed after. He thought long and hard about the face of his father and the few memories he had of the man.

He thought about how he started this journey for that man's sake, thinking his father the only person on the continent who held his stupid self of any value, the only family he had or would ever have.

Allen, just a mere child of thirteen than who knew nothing of the world because he had never been taught brought himself to Wonderland and he blamed everyone including that man he called his father. He was lured to this wretched land of misery by the sickly sweet shimmer of hope that he might find the only person who ever loved him upon its gold paved roads.

His father had told him to come here. Even in that foggy little memory, he remembered that vividly.

He told him to go to this awful place just to die.

Why. That was all he thought anymore. He just wanted to know why.

In his pure heart, he was willing to forgive his father for this. Perhaps he didn't know, he thought, perhaps he had a good and wise reason. Perhaps it was to teach him something important, perhaps he had been bad and needed to be punished.

Something. Any reason to explain this cruelty, this absolutely inhumanity and why he had been tricked to suffer under it. Anything.

He remained such a child in his mind, he knew this as he still wanted to cling to the belief that his father was watching out for him.

The wiser and more callused part of him knew that he had been abandoned here. The better part of him knew that his father had died many years ago and that, having his mission completed, Lavi would not come save him and he would return to the peaks of Nim.

He only chose to believe otherwise because he had nothing else to hang onto. Without those two people, his life was worthless and without meaning. It was all that was left and he needed it to keep holding on, to stay strong even though all he wanted was death.

Was it so wrong to cling to hope? To love? Was it so selfish for him to long for the joy and beauty that a good life could bring?

Was that his sin? Was that what had brought him to this hell?

The only thing he could feel anymore after the cold seeped into his weak and brittle bones was betrayal. It was a terrible pain no potion or remedy could ever heal.

His father smiled so kindly and Lavi treated him so well but he was too young, too naive, too stupid, to selfish to see that it was all just a lie, a nightmare in a sweet dreams disguise he brought upon himself. He hadn't deserved kindness or love, he knew he was worthless, never doing a thing in his life to deserve something like love but surely he had never done anything to deserve this.

The ground felt cold against his cheek, despite having lied there for many hours. He hardly even had any body heat left to warm himself. He was growing colder and colder as the days passed and he knew. He knew he did not have much more time upon this earth.

He knew this land of sin and cruelty would be his grave.

All that was debatable was how that would happen.

Would he truly be sacrificed to the dark star like nothing more than an animal? Would his time run out before that time? Would the cruelty of the people who ran this place get him first?

He didn't know. He could never know.

All that he had left was to wait for it in whatever form it should take and wonder what had went wrong.

What could he have done to change it?

Finally, alas his heavy thoughts sank him under the waters of slumber. His tear streaked cheeks dried for a few short hours and his heart was relieved to hide from these current tribulations under the blanket of a dreamless sleep.

The last thing he thought before sleep claimed him was that he wished he never came here.

He wished the grass ogre from several countries over had taken his life when it had the chance.

He wished that terrible man back at hotel had beaten him to death just as he had that poor innocent fire meister woman.

He should never have read those stories about heroes and their grand adventures.

He should never have gathered all his courage to hire the friendly dormouse sitting all alone at the city gates.

He should never have treasured that letter from Wonderland or did as it ordered.

He should never have wanted a father so very badly like a small weak minded child.

He wished his eyes had never beheld such beauty, his ears heard such sweet music, his lips eaten such delicious food, his heart held such wonderful emotions of love and joy if to be deprived of these things felt as though the oxygen had been stolen from his lungs.

But more than anything, more than all these things, he wished his mother, whoever she was, had never birthed him. He wished he had never been born into this wretched and deceptive world.

But for now, the boy who would soon free the people of Wonderland, slept, never knowing what was to be his destiny.

In a dreamless sleep like this, the boy known as Allen, his thoughts, his memories, his feelings, his desires, his hopes, his entire identity seemed to cease to exist like a flame blown out, a light once so bright snuffed out without a trace.

He should have been scared, the fear should have been instinctive. It was almost against human nature to not flee at the mere idea of total elimination, at the idea of death itself and yet Allen just couldn't feel anything but peace;

A warm and welcoming peace like he hadn't felt in a long while.

The boy, being just a mere boy, hadn't realized before but living, though beautiful and so very terrible at times, was unbearably hard.

He had known for a while now but he did not think he was quite cut out for a task so difficult. He felt like a he was four years old again, watching his father slay an impossibly tall beast. Allen knew that, no matter how hard he worked or how smart he was, he could never slay such beasts. He had never been and would never be brave enough.

He had been fated to die too soon to ever truly be of use and what little time he had left he spent living comfortably in ignorance and stupidity. He was a useless child.

Perhaps that's why he was alone now. Perhaps that's why everyone he had ever known and loved had betrayed him.

Perhaps he truly did deserve this.

Perhaps dying would be easier.

Perhaps being snuffed out would not be so bad.

Perhaps that's why death did not scare him.

Perhaps he did not hate those who betrayed him.

Perhaps he would still run back if they let him.

Perhaps he wished those days of adventure would never end.

Perhaps, just perhaps Allen would prefer to feel nothing in this still abyss than be so deprived of joy here and now.

Perhaps he was just that selfish.

Perhaps he was just that childish.

Perhaps.

A sound.

At the slightest noise, Allen was awoke but he felt far too sluggish, far too cold, far too weak to actually rise from his prison floor.

He wanted to fall back to sleep. He wanted just a few more treasured moments of rest so that he didn't have to hurt his head thinking so hard.

Yet, despite all his efforts to mentally block out the sound, the sound, a pained almost human whine persisted.

Dull, high pitched, familiar.

He felt a faint breeze, a rustling of his hair like a small child running his fingers through it in attempts to awaken him truly.

For reasons he did not know, the world had grown colder than his cell. It was not this way when he first arrived.

Someone had opened the cell door.

It had happened so many times before and yet it still caught him off guard like he had never interacted with people before.

It was like he had been reset, like without those few special people, he was nothing.

With what little strength he had, he dared to crack open his eyelids.

There was very little light. These days, the world seemed to dim. These days Allen could hardly tell the night from the day. It was like something large was eclipsing the sun, like a great sadow had gone over the city.

It was either a grand eclipse on a mass scale or Allen was slowly going blind.

Allen was never quite sure what the make of it.

It the darkness, however, he was still able to make out shapes.

The silhouette of a man stood in the doorway, the sort that guarded this prison and tortured his inmates. The sort of living corpse that haunted his every waking hour, seemingly only living from the energy the light meisters released.

"It's time." Said the man, his voice low, almost inhumanly so, "The day has arrived."

A few seconds followed as Allen's weak and ill mind processed what he heard, his eyelids fluttering lightly to see the man's face, perhaps.

"...Time…" He thought, "The…..Sacrifice….?'

Several seconds of silence followed and the man simply repeated himself, using the same monotone voice like his words were some kind of recording.

"It's time. The day has arrived."

Allen was on the verge of falling unconscious yet again.

He had yet to point out whether or not this was merciful reality, a cruel dream or just a truly vivid hallucination. He supposed he could never tell with the way he had been so he stared on with hardly an ounce of strength left in his body.

If it was truly the day of the famed sacrifice, the merciful death of all meisters and the day of glory for Wonderland, it meant little difference to him but he would know soon enough.

At this point in time, in this moment in the life he treasured so much, he really did not care.

Soon enough, he felt his proof in the form of a familiar wooden stick jabbing into his brittle ribs.

Once.

Twice.

Thrice he poked him like a child might poke a dead bird but it was only when he saw a sign of life that he finally barked out a command.

"Get up." He bluntly commanded, his voice probably unable to be anymore a devoid of life.

Oh.

Allen understood now.

It truly was the day of sacrifice.

Normally, the guards would come in and force him out of his cell. It was different now because the ritual required the meisters to have as few physical injuries as possible before they were slaughtered.

So it was true, then.

The boy had almost sighed in relief.

Rather than scared, he was happy the wait was finally over.

He was happy that his death would have meaning, that perhaps his father would be proud of him for doing as he was told and, perhaps he would finally find peace in death.

He was jabbed once more in the ribs, this time with more force.

"Get up." The guard commanded.

He said that and yet the guard did not understand.

Allen was not unwilling to walk to his death. He would run if he had to.

The only problem was his own body. Over the past week, an odd feverous numbness was beginning to haunt his body, growing stronger with each passing hour.

He did not think it would become much of a problem but here and now, he felt like his mind was away but his body was still asleep. He could not feel anything in his body, much less move all that well.

It was because of this that he found himself almost completely incapable of rising at the guards command.

"Get up." The man said yet again with a fifth jab to Allen's brittle ribs but Allen could not rise.

He had grown far too weak in body, spirit and will to rise.

He could hardly even conjure the desire to raise his own head off the cold prison floor.

"Get up."

Allen knew he had to rise. He had to get up and walk to wherever the rest of the sacrifices had gone, otherwise the guard who stood in the cell doorway might remove the wooden tip of his staff that he jabbed him with so many times with and electrocute him and the boy did not know if his mind could handle that torment again or ever again.

He knew this and yet his exhausted limbs would not obey him.

"Get up."

He began to grow frantic, the anticipation of the violent shock he had experienced so many times before grinding upon his nerves.

He did not want to get electrocuted again. It hurt too much.

The sure amount of times he had received that punishment was most likely the cause of his sudden paralysis to begin with.

It did not matter if the sacrifice was a paralysed vegetable, only that their body was not bruised or scratched come this glorious day they had all wished for so much.

"Get up."

He could not see and that made it worse.

He heard the sound of something being unscrewed and he just knew it was him taking of the bit of wood that kept away the shock.

He was going to do it. Allen knew it.

He just knew it.

"Get up."

He closed his eyes, accepting his fate. What few muscles that would obey him this wretched morning he used to close his eyes and squeeze them shut, anticipating the pain.

He knew it would come.

He knew it as it always would come. It was what this wretched place had taught him.

But, unfortunately, in the haze of misery he found himself trapped in, he found that he had forgotten one valuable lesson the beautiful adventures of the past had taught him.

One was not always right and the unexpected would always come, be it good or bad.

And that lesson came to him when the pain did not come and the sound of a man, presumably the guard in his doorway, gagging dryly, choking on nothing, filled his empty ears.

What?

Choking?

That had never happened before.

Nothing even mildly close to that had ever happened before.

Choking?

Had he heard that right?

And his thoughts were cut short by two loud thuds accompanied by two visual aids.

The first was the sound of the guards knees hitting the ground in full force.

The second was when the rest of the man's body followed, His face landed right in front of Allen's, bulging, panicked black eyes staring straight into his.

The mans mouth opened and closed like her were trying to say something but couldn't find the right words.

He put it together. The man could not breath.

Why couldn't he breathe?

In fear, Allen scrambled back to the best of his ability, only managing a few inches, just in time to witness what little life the man had left in his body fade away in his final moments.

His body went limp. Allen knew he was dead.

Why?

Why had he suddenly died like that?

His drowsy mind scrambled for answers but found none.

That was, of course, until he spotted another pair of feet in his doorway. These ones were different, smaller and wearing cute leather shoes.

The words he heard next were so pure, so full of emotion, they felt like the most beautiful symphony in the world.

"I'm so sorry!" A girl blurted out mournfully.

Allen thought he might cry on the spot.

She rushed forward into his cell and knelt before him. She took hold of his small shoulders with a gentle touch so warm he might have thought she was on fire, and quickly pulled him into a sitting position so that they could see each other eye to eye.

He didn't need all that to recognize her but in that moment, he sure had needed it.

If it was a dream, it was probably the best dream he had ever dreamt.

There, infront of him was none other than Chomesuke and, in that moment, he might have married her.

"Is that you, Allen?!" She cried, actually tears in her beautiful eyes, looking him up and down to make sure he hadn't been hurt, " Is it really you?!"

She had stolen everything down to the words from his mouth and the tears from his eye in that single moment.

Chomesuke.

He remembered her. That silly witch girl he had spent a few months with.

Chomesuke.

The funny girl who used to trail behind him, saying she was far to exhausted to walk another step even though they had only walked at a steady pace for a few hours.

The odd girl he knew for a short while who had not betrayed him. Not yet, anyways but he might just take what he could get.

"Chomesuke."

And not a second after the name left his lips, a mere whisper on his tongue, the girl gasped and pulled him straight into a bone crushing hug.

"It's you!" She cried into the crook of his neck, " It's really you!"

His body had grown weak in the past month and yet, as fresh tears of happiness Allen did not know he still had left sprung to his eyes, he could do anything but object.

There was something so undeniably warm about the warmth of another human being, something even the most vivid hallucinations could not conjure up and something he thought was worth clinging to with whatever life he had left.

It didn't matter how she was here or why she was here, it didn't even matter if she had come to save him from this place. All that mattered was that she was here and he didn't know how much he missed joy till he tasted it once again.

And that is why the tears wet the dry skin of his thin and sunken in cheeks.

Much to his disapproval, she pulled back, holding him at arm's distance yet again. The wretched cold almost immediately returned to his small body.

"We have to go." She hissed, her eyes wide and her pupils dilated with adrenaline, "Now."

She leaned in and placed her arm under his back and, like a mother holding her child, she lifted Allen up. Standing on her own feet with his arm around her neck for support, she let him lean on her and he went along with no protest.

The sudden motion made his world spin, he suddenly felt nauseous but he hardly minded because having someone carefully pick him up and take him from the confinements of his cell made him feel so safe.

Perhaps it was a dream.

Sometimes things were too good to be true but on others, the fact that it was true was exactly what made it good. Who was to say, really.

His weak feet drug against the dead earth, dry grass and flowers poking at his toes like little needles but in his current state, he could not feel it.

The quick speed and the swift motions Chomesuke was moving in told him that she was going somewhere quite quickly but he did not know where as his hulled lulled and bobbed in the motion like that of an infant.

"...How…." He spoke under heavy, ragged breaths. He didn't think she heard him try to speak. He thought only the wind had heard his words and that's why he had been so surprised to hear her respond.

"...I'm…... familiar with Wonderland." She spoke clearly and carefully, her voice laced with something like shame, "I knew that, if you were in Wonderland, they would take you here."

He thought about what she said. He processed the information over and over again, making sure not to miss a single hidden meaning.

Familiar? With Wonderland?

Wasn't she from Underland? How could someone from such a poor country known anything about this wretched place?

She couldn't have been living in Underland willingly, could she? Who even has that kind of wealth?

Well, he supposed it didn't matter why as she was here now and, whatever reasons she had, thank goodness for them, because she seemed to know what she was doing.

All he could hope for was that whatever she intended to do with him, it was to get him out of this place and to somewhere with nice food.

"Oh, Allen…" She whispered, "I'm so sorry…. I'm so so sorry for everything……"

"...Why….?"

Her words quickly degraded into a series of muttered apologies varying in extremities. Allen could hardly make out most of them but he could tell she was genuinely sorry.

The only problem was that he had no idea what she was apologizing for. He could not voice the opinion but, other than being tied to witchcraft somehow, she had never really wronged him.

"...Sorry?" He finished but she had not responded, seemingly too caught up in her own speech.

Chomesuke could be silly, frivolous, and quite spoiled at times. She was bratty, bossy and bothersome at others but Allen knew that in her chest beat a good and he knew this because of how guilty she felt at the smallest thing.

He'd often see her try to keep up a front but it always broke. The familiarity made him feel warm.

But it was only at this point in her ramblings that Allen's nearly deaf ears could make out a few key phrases.

"-If it weren't for him….." She scrambled from subject to subject but he heard these words quite clearly, "If it weren't for Lavi, I don't think I'd have the courage to face you again after all I've done! I-!"

There it was.

That name hit him far harder than it should have. He thought after a month of this torture, he would have gone calised in his heart, but by the way his stomach turned a bit sour at the mention of the dormouse, he guessed he was wrong.

In a single moment, he gathered a bit of his remaining strength and parroted her words.

"Lavi?" He asked, his voice rising in pitch at the last syllable.

Chomesuke noticed him raise his head and slowed her pace as she met his eyes.

There was silence for a second, like she was wondering if it would be alright to elaborate.

With his head lifted, Allen soon found himself distracted by the change in scenery. His eyes were stolen by a city cloaked in shadows.

Where he now stood was a place with much more colour from the yellow in the dead grass to the green vines lining the red brick wall.

It was a place where red brick walls several decades in age stood as railing for a ledge that hovered over many houses like a watchful being but all it served for now was an elegant picture frame for the true beauty this city had to offer.

A sea of carefully paved roads and well built houses unlike any he had ever seen before lay before him.

Once, it would have been a beautiful city paved with gold at every corner, people drunk off their own wealth dancing through the streets like they were children again.

They were spoiled, ignorant of how lucky they were and selfish but they were yet just people led astray. It was almost funny how quickly someone like the man who called himself the wizard could invade perfectly normal people's lives and pervert them this way.

Perhaps that guard Chomesuke had to do away with was a normal and good hearted person once but that was certainly not the case anymore.

There was a point all evil things came to and, in this moment, Allen was sure he was looking at that very point.

It was hideous. It was disturbing. It was all these things and yet it was all so beautiful.

With that thought in mind and his eyes locked to the horizon, Allen decided to ask his question.

"Lavi..." He asked, phrasing his whispers oh so delicately, "...Is... here?".

Silence.

His female companion did not answer his question so he was surprised when a new, familiar and terrifying voice entered the fray.

A deep, masculine voice that Allen knew full well belonged to a woman.

" M-Mistress Chomesuke?! What are you doing here?!"

Chomesuke, on instinct, pulled the boy beside her closer. She jerk her body violently around, posed to attack and when she took in the familiar face of her sisters, Anita's physician and combat instructor, she did not lower her guard.

Some ten feet away, she spotted the woman soldier Mahoja.

"L-L-Long time no see..." Chomesuke said, her voice coming out shaky and awkward in attempt to play it cool, "Mahoja..."

Though possessing no magic of her own, the woman who now eyed her with suspicion was a fierce opponent who was not to be toyed with.d

She had been unwaveringly loyal to Anita and the other imperial witches since she was a child but Chomesuke knew that when it came down to it, she would report to the wizard immediately that one of his precious imperial witches dared to defy him and save one of the Emerald City's sacrifices.

She could not let that happen

Mahoja took a step forward.

"Is that...?" She asked, her eyes firmly fixed on the pure white creature at Chomesuke's side, "Is that... Allen?"

Chomesuke took a step back and, in addition to that, raised her open hand a bit over her head, just enough to warn her off a potential spell she could cast without so much as blinking an eyelash.

"P-Please stay there."

"Mistress Chomesuke... What are you doing with that boy...?"

Leaning down and carefully propping Allen's limp body against the brick wall, she turned to face Mahoja with a second hand raised, this time the faint yellow glow of the magical symbols upon her skin, shining through the shadows.

A single circle engraved upon her wrists like precious gems shining underneath her skin.

"The harvest is plentiful." Chomesuke's hands trembled, "There are so many sacrifices, Mahoja! One less will make little difference!"

And yet Mahoja still took a step forward, almost testing her.

"Mistress." She spoke, an urgency inner voice, "You need to return that boy to the rest of them. That boy is key."

"No, I do not!"

"You don't know what it is you do, mistress Chomesuke! You need to-!"

"No!" Chomesuke screamed, squeezing her eyes shut like the words caused her pain, "For the first time, I actually know what to do, Mahoja!"

"Mistress!" Yet another step forward.

"I can't do it again, Mahoja…." Chomesuke seethed, her back scraping the brick railing, "I can't do it again…. Just let me take….. This one boy….."

Mahoja stilled and a look of pity passed over her features.

It sickened Chomesuke how, for almost a few brief moments, the woman looked like she understood but Chomesuke knew she never could understand. The woman soldier remained loyal to the wizard and his witches. It was impossible that this woman of all people could ever understand the mental torture she had endured over these past few years, thinking she was somehow wrong for feeling it.

"So…." She spoke slowly, "You will take the boy out of the city, where his premature death will be meaningless?"

"It's not our right to decide who lives or dies like that, we are not gods that we get to choose…!"

"The pathogen will spread. This is the only way to ensure-"

"Mahoja!" She spat, hatefully, stubbornly, "I can't live with myself if this boy should die by our hands! I can't let it happen!"

"Its redemption you're after, then."

Chomesuke was taken back by her words. Redemption? Was that truly it? Was that what her soul had been longing for all these years? Was that what drove her to run away?

"Listen," Mahoja began, casting a glance to Allen's half conscious form,"The only true redemption you will ever have is if you hand over that boy, and return him to the podium!"

The urgency in Mahoja's voice almost made Chomesuke waver. Why did the woman sound so sure?

Mahoja stood there with the appearance like she knew something Chomesuke didn't. The witch of space was undeniably sure the secret she was hiding was that she would report her actions to the wizard as soon as the witch's back was turned.

Despite the fact that she had been a friend to her and her sisters all these years, despite the fact that she had been nothing but kind to her, Chomesuke knew in what remained of her human heart that this was the right thing to do and if Mahoja opposed it, than she was now her enemy.

"If you only do this, I will not tell the wizard of oz."

It was what Lavi taught her this past month when they conspired to save Allen from this place and it was the way she knew to be right. No one would make this choice but herself.

"Mistress, please-!"

"No!" She screamed one final time, finally claiming the courage to step forward herself, "I will not!"

The look of understanding, friendship and kindness faded only to be replaced by a stern expression and the eyes of a wild beast.

"Then," She said, "I will have no choice to take him back myself."

She was serious, her spirit sure that what she was doing was right. Unfortunately, Chomesuke was as well.

They both began to walk towards each other, a safe distance away from Allen, to battle.

At this point, she did not hold any malice towards her family. Infact, she did her best not to think about them but what she did was not to wrong them and yet she would battle anyone to defend the new light of redemption she found.

Mahoja removed her blade glimmering in the faint light of this day and the yellow stars, symbols of power upon Chomesuke's forearms glowed all the brighter.

They were fully prepared to battle each other for what they knew to be right.

A meter apart from each other, their weapons about to clash.

That was, of course, until a dull thud echoed through the empty city.

Silence and the two beings stilled.

Both paused. It was as though it were a portrait painted in a paused moment in time.

It happened before anyone could process what had happened.

Mahoja and her blade hit the grass abruptly. Chomesuke's symbols dim.

As soon as the moment was processed, Chomesuke's head shot up and she glared to see none other than the fiery red hair of a familiar friend in the shadows.

His wide green eye was wide with adrenaline as he lowered the iron hammer he had just used to knock out the woman soldier with a swift blow to the back of the head.

"Lavi?!" She cried, approached the young man before her, "What the hell was that?!"

With his weapon lowered and his composer returned, the young man looking as healthy as ever, he greeted her with a warm and lively smile.

"I'm sorry!" He declared, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly, "I just didn't think we had time for some random cat fight."

"This is so anticlimactic! I had it under control!"

"Really? It looked like it was about to spiral out of control."

"Dang it!" She screeched as she yanked at the ends of her auburn hair in irritation, "Why are you here?! I thought you were going to clear out the guards?!"

He slung the hammer over his shoulder in one swift motion, "And I did. Just now."

She sighed and placed her hands on her hips and sighed heavily.

"So you cleared the path to the city gate?"

"Yep."

"And you weren't seen?"

"You bet."

She looked exasperated that her moment to shine had been tarnished so but on the inside, she was actually quite impressed that a boy like this, a mere human, was able to pull off so much so quickly.

But, unfortunately, in her shame, she refused to admit this.

"So," He spoke up suddenly, his expression turning serious, "Did you fulfill your part of the plan?"

She scoffed as she stepped out of the so that the pure white form of Allen came into view. Before she could say anything, Lavi was already making his way towards the boy.

"Of course I did. I'm not that useless."

"Some might say otherwise."

"Hey!"

She jerked around just in time to see Lavi drop his hammer and kneel down at Allen's feet, his expression serious, angry and downright mournful at the state of his dear friend.

He dropped to his knees, his whispered name slipping from his lips as he reached out, seized the boy's shoulders and pulled him into a tight bone crushing hug. It was familiar, sweet but more than that, it was warm.

It was different from Chomesuke. More understanding, more adored.

It was something Allen knew well and the embrace had snapped him out of his half conscious state. His eyes gained some light and his mind cleared.

"...La….vi……?"

It was only when Allen muttered his name that Lavi pulled back.

"Yah…" He said with a weak smile, "It's me, little buddy…."

"...La...vi…." He said again, his half blind eyes blinking repeatedly in hopes to blink out whatever was making him see this illusion, as though he couldn't believe what he was seeing, "Is….Here….?"

"Yep!"He said with a smile as his hand met the young boys cold pale cheek, "Of course I am! I came back for you!"

"...Why..?"

Allen's pale violet eyes met his for one brief moment, but instead of joy, his expression was overtaken with unbearable pain, tears springing to his eyes.

"Why…" He said through sudden ragged breaths, almost panicking, "Why…. come….? Why…..Leave me…...here….."

Regret pooled in Lavi's heart. He saw the burns and bruises on the boy's arms, legs and face. He saw how weak he had become and he knew what that implied.

He saw it all and he despised it. He despised the people who did this and he despised himself that he couldn't have gotten here sooner to prevent all this pain from happening to begin with.

"It….hurts..." Allen sobbed, thick tears falling down his cheeks, "Hurt…. So much…."

"I'm….I'm sorry…." He said as his gaze fell and he lowered his eyes, "It's my fault. I should never have taken you to this place. I should never have let this happen….. But….."

He took hold of Allen's frail hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"But I'll make it right, I promise…." He said, genuine honesty and fire in his eyes, "Just please…...Please find it in your heart to forgive me…And remember me in a good light….."

A silence.

Allens eyes suddenly when wide in realization.

"...Wha….?"

Lavi suddenly pulled him forward and pressed his lips against his forehead.

"Goodbye," He whispered, "Allen….."

He then stood up and backed away, leaving the poor boy to reach for the fading image of a friend he could no longer see or hear.

"...Lavi….!" He cried out helplessly like a very small child, "...La….vi….no…!"

As he backed away, Chomesuke immediately seized his attention.

"Goodbye?!" She blurted, "What do you mean?! You are coming with us, Lavi!"

He shook his head sorrowfully, "I can't, Chomesuke. I've got to make things right."

"And how are you going to do that, exactly?"

A moment of silence as he looked her straight in the eyes, goosebumps covering her arms.

"I'm going to stop the wizard's sacrifice."

"No!" Her reaction was a reflex, immediate rejection of the mere concept, "Out of the question, Lavi! That's suicide!"

"I know."

"If you know, then why?!"

"Because someone has to!" He declared, "It was me and people like me who brought the meisters here. It's our fault and I'm willing to pay the price."

"Even…." She muttered, "Even if it costs you your life?"

She was upset. Lavi saw this and his face softened, "Even if it costs me my life…."

He then stepped in front of her and began to speak to her not as a lowly witch, or monster or even a complete stranger, but as an equal.

"Listen, Chomesuke. I know I treated horribly but I need you to fulfill my final request." He spoke with urgency, the sort that Chomesuke never liked to hear and yet she listened, "I need you to go, to take Allen out of the city and take him as far away from here as possible. I need you to hide if you have to so that the wizard will never find you and Allen again. I need you to never look back to this accursed place again, understand?"

"I…" She spoke almost against her own will, I understand, but-"

"But more than anything," He spoke softly, with a glance cast towards the boy, "I need you to make sure his remaining days are not spent in misery…"

"How…. How can I….."

"Please, Chomesuke! Can you do this for me?!"

And for the first time, Lavi saw Chomesuke cry.

It wasn't too much, just a single tear shed for his sake but the guilt still welled up inside him.

"Of course I will…." She smiled to the best of her ability, "Idiot…."

The tension eased between them as Lavi smiled as well.

He walked forward and embraced the girl warmly.

"Thank you." He whispered in her ear.

"It's nothing," She smiled through the tears, not wanting this to be goodbye, "This is what friends are supposed to do, right…?"

The embrace tightened.

"Of course."

And with that, he let go of her and rushed away, doing his best to block out his friends words in protest.

"...Lavi…. No, please….. Don't….. Don't go…."

He would close his ears if he had to because he would not let himself falter.

Chomesuke watched his form disappear over the hill and only then did she go to Allen and begin to take him away from the scene as quickly as possible.

It broke her heart how the boy reached out and struggled almost violently in her arms, but she kept going, knowing that she had to fulfil his final request.

"...No…..Lavi….e back…."

(Ho hoho…. Hohoho…… Hohohohoho…….. The next chapter should be the last…)


	15. -Bears-

(Holy shiznit. Holy cow. Holy cow, it's over. It's finally over. I thought it would never end. I thought I would grow to hate this story but I can honestly say I thoroughly enjoyed writing this tale for you all and I would like to thank you for teaching me to finish what I started. I know it may sound silly or dumb but it does mean alot to me. This is but a temporary parting but I'm sure I'll start out new projects. The first snow of winter happened a little bit ago and it was beautiful. My sister hit me in the face with a glass bottle of oil so in addition to my cold, my cheek has swollen up to three times its size but it's fine. Once again, as usual, I own nothing and I hope you enjoy. Good day and God bless, my lovely readers!)

-connection faltered and she knew her elusive sister had left the city yet again.

Anita, the imperial witch of light, was never one to fall into wild fits of rage, but now, after all she had learned in this past month and after all her heart endured, she was willing to let herself fall into the hands of such harmful and shameful temptations.

Her sister, Chomesuke was there in Wonderland for mere hours. Finally she had returned and Anita had hopes that her returning might bring her into the know, and therefore make this little turn of events a little bit less painful.

It was what she hoped but she had learned at this point that those childish optimistic views were tainted lenses.

It was Road who came to tell her the news of what had happened. If anyone else, even the wizard, had told her the news according to Mahoja's account, she wouldn't have known what to think.

Luckily, Road knew the truth and was never one to beat around the bush about her feelings or thought.

She walked straight into her room, sat down on her bed, completely uninvited and plainly stated that she knew this would happen.

Chomesuke had no idea who Allen was or what he was made to do. She had no idea at all, as usual but she had no way of knowing.

All she knew was that a boy called Allen had called her a friend when she and those like her had done nothing but plague his life with misery only to send him to his premature death just beyond the shimmering gates of Wonderland.

In her ignorance, she sought to betray her long standing loyalty to the wizard on no evidence but feeling alone and save the enigmatic light meister called Allen from the cruel fate.

She was not wrong in her ways, both Road and Anita knew this, but her conduct was extremely misguided.

Road kept a cool head atop her shoulders at the predicament but Anita was far from calm.

In one foul strike, their sister in bond had taken the boy from his confinements and, in turn, cast away the fated end of the fake wizard that had done such awful things to Miranda and her husband.

It was their only chance and now it was gone. The ritual would go on uninterrupted and thousands would be slaughtered in just a few hours.

Surely it would. Surely there was no stopping it now.

Chomesuke held powers over the wind and in the few hours since the connection was lost, there was no way of knowing how far she had gone in that time.

The Emerald City had almost completely eclipsed the sun. Even if she did discover Allen and Chomesuke, there was no way to discover them in time to stop the ritual.

No matter how hard she thought, she couldn't think of a straight path out of this mess. Her head hurt from how hard she gripped onto it.

She had not let her hopeful just to let the hope slip from her fingers like this.

And it was then, and only than that her dear of a finally tired of watching her squirm and panic over what was to be done, she yawned like a cat and, alas informed her of the bit of dormant power she placed inside the cute little meisters head for visual purposes.

Anita would have turned her anger to the only person in the room, but the girl explained herself, saying that she did not need to be near to activate such magic and she could track him right there.

Anita knew her sister was always a step ahead of everyone, but this time, she was so impressed and genuinely proud, she thought she might cry.

"So," Road began with a sly smirk as she crossed her arms, "Should you go get her or should I?"

"No, I'll go." Anita was quick to declare before any confusion amounted, "But you stay and report the escape to our dear master. Tell him-

-easy, she thought.

The wizard did not want to lose a single playing piece in his game. Perhaps it was greed or maybe he simply desired a perfect victory over those who would dare oppose him.

At this point, it mattered very little to Anita. All that mattered was that he let her leave the city to locate the lost boy and return him to the rest of of the meisters just in time for the ritual.

His greed or obsession, what ever drove him to do all this, she was grateful to it just this once because it was what made him desire every meister present and it was what made him send Anita out to collect the boy.

She was never one who enjoyed conflict. She did not like to hate people nor did she like to argue. Perhaps she was a coward like that but in this wretched circumstance, it was exactly what she and Road needed. They would not risk their positions of trust this way.

It was to her own gain, but she was only doing what he told her to do. She could be a good girl to both sides, to the wizard and to the sister of hers who was so cruelly thrown into the abyss for nothing more than protecting her own child.

It was not done out of hate, but rather obligation to her sister. She could not hate the wizard of oz, a man she owed loyalty to for so long, but rather she just despised what he did and felt as though a punishment was due.

She was not confident the wizard would die today, she wasn't even confident the boy called Allen could even hope to stand up to him. She did not put her hopes in variables or fates undecided but she knew she had to try.

If she didn't try, if she didn't at least give it her best, even the faint light of hope would be snuffed out and all would be driven to meaningless follies.

That is what drove her; Not selfishness or obsession, but love for her sisters and love for this wonderfully misguided city.

Love. The one thing she believed still worth the-

-connections passed through this small town like yet to be departed ghosts.

Their small childlike voices echoed in her ears so loudly, Anita wondered how exactly Road was ever able to scent the boy's presence here. The connection's little voice were, most likely, anyways what kept Chomesuke from sensing who exactly Allen was, maybe even what kept her from feeding for so long.

This town called Meirci was truly an unusual place.

Being just a few steps upon Wonderlands border but not truly a part of that land, it was just far enough to keep away from Roads experiments but just close enough to share in the nation's splendor and wealth.

The safest roads to Wonderland we're through Meirci so the city made most of its money off of the tolls it put on said roads. As the nation was built upon rather dead land and droughts happened often, the steady income of wandering travelers coming in and wealthy aristocrats traveling out was greatly appreciated.

That being said, the city was needlessly extravagant and rich. A lot of the allotted wealth had been spent on the design and appearance of everything down to the streetlamps.

Instead of portraying the majesty it was aiming for, it just came off as looking silly like a child making a crude knockoff of a work of art. It tried all too hard to look like Wonderland that it forgot how to be unique or how to actually grab people's attention.

It had almost been disorientating for Anita who had lived in Wonderland her entire life but she had no right to complain. Perhaps it would have been better for Wonderland to appear like this wealthy, but almost childish town. At least she would be reassured that what she and her sisters had worked so hard to build had some innocence left to be salvaged.

They truly were so very lost.

To hide the tear that fell down her cheek, she pulled the silk black hood of her cloak further over her face.

But alas, that was what she sought the boy for.

In a futile attempt to be gods to guide this world, they had become nothing but demons disguised as angels. She saw that now. Now that she turned her eyes away from the wizards doctrine, she found that she could truly see the world like she once did.

Bringing Allen to the wizard and ending his cruel reign upon the continent would in no way erase all that she and her sisters had done but at least it would break the habit.

At least she would have hope to never fall into that same endless cycle of mistakes again.

It was noon now and yet the sky held the appearance of night. The emerald city had fully eclipsed the sun, a golden ring of light lining a black sun, the dark star, now lying on the crown of the horizon.

It had the appearance of a halo lying over Wonderland like it were speaking of the cities innocence. It was ironic, really.

But as the light disappeared, the temperatures of december fell further.

Her breath fell from her lips as a white mist and the sweat upon her forehead had frozen like they were diamonds.

She was an imperial witch so harsh natures could not harm her anymore than a thought could. Nonetheless, the idea of what the temperatures were doing to the people in the town was quite distressing.

She hadn't seen anyone on the streets to confirm that fact but the water sources had completely frozen over like stone, heavy layers of fresh snowfall had hidden any evidence of the fatally cold temperatures and, according to Road who was usually never wrong, Chomesuke had taken Allen into this town in an attempt to flee.

Anita had taken one of Road's portals to get her before Chomesuke in hopes of catching her but if they weren't careful, Allen, half alive with little to no body heat, might already be gone and their plans would already be foiled before they got a chance to begin.

She knew she had to find them quickly, so she rushed through the city, searching through every street corner and every alleyway.

She had no way of knowing whether or not they were in the city, but she could not risk them escaping so she searched.

Anita searched everywhere. She did not take this chore lightly.

The wind began to wrap her cloak all around her slender body, obstructing her vision and limiting her movements. The black silk had been dyed white from millions of-

-city center.

Chomesuke sharpened the cold winds gentle hand into a dangerous blade with ease, spinning around, the frills of her skirt gathering around her thighs as she threw her arms around wildly in the spellbound movements she learned many years ago, almost as though she were dancing but her face betrayed her true feelings.

"I won't ask again!" The girl cried over the winds howl, never ceasing her barrage of wind attacks upon the cloaked figure, "Reveal yourself! Who are you?!".

But the darkly clad figure was not scared. The dark figure knew her sister had every right to be suspicious, but, after having known her for so long, she knew the imperial witch of space was just scared.

The cloaked figure, Anita, saw it as clearly as the day that had yet to come in the way the girls brown eyes gleamed wildly and how she forced her body here and about violently, exerting herself like never before, pushing herself to protect a promise to a dear friend.

Chomesuke was terrified.

And it was because of that reason that Anita proceeded towards her, the sister she had not laid eyes on in years, at a steady pace without fear.

"T-That's enough!" She screamed, snarling like a wolf baring its silver fangs, "Don't come any closer!"

She shot warning spells at her again and again, each invisible sword cutting mere inches away from Anita's frostbitten face and crashing into the forest of stone clustered columns or making spider web marks as they shattered the marble floors.Chomesuke was not hoping to kill the stranger, but rather to scare the stranger, whoever they may be.

"Y-You hear me?!" She stepped back, just a bit closer to protect the little light meister, a small boy who lay motionless, propped up against the wall, "I will kill you, s-so stay back!"

Chomesuke didn't understand. She couldn't comprehend why this mysterious person, despite the power she had displayed, still approached her, hardly even wavering in their steps.

The cloaked stranger was just a meter or so away now but Chomesuke quickly made a decision.

It wasn't hard to tell that, whoever they were, they hadn't stumbled upon her on accident and that the silk of the cloak was so rich, it couldn't have come from anywhere other than Wonderland.

Lavi had made her promise to protect Allen and take him as far away from here as possible.

He even called her a friend.

Lavi had practically sacrificed himself to interrupt the wizards ritual, blaming himself for all that had been done rather than Chomesuke and for that, for all that he had done for her, she would not break that one promise so easily.

She came to a decision in that moment. She made it a concrete law in her mind that she would no longer attack as a warning, but aim to kill this person if they came another step closer.

Chomesuke had decided this in that moment, the symbols of power beginning to glow upon her bare forearms faintly.

She had made a choice in that moment, but suddenly, that moment passed and, at a speed inhuman, before the witch of space could react, the stranger rushed forward and Chomesuke suddenly found herself wrapped in a warm embrace.

The moment passed and she hardly breathed as she heard the familiar voice of her sister tickle her ear.

"I hear you, Chomesuke…. I always could, you know…."

And just like that, the fear subsided like tidal waves pulling back into the sea.

"...A-Anita…?" She dared to say.

The snow seemingly melted around her and the winter hardly felt so cold.

"I looked everywhere….." She whispered, breath hot against Chomesuke's neck, serving as evidence to her statement, "I'm so glad…...Sister…."

Though the sun had gone black, the warmth of familiarity glowed like burning ember in her chest and she could see.

It wasn't an enemy. It was her sister. Her dear sister.

The tension in her body melted away.

"Anita….. Is that really….?"

"...Yes…." Chomesuke's fears were silenced and the connection between the sisters was strengthened at the voicing of one word of confirmation.

It was just that simple.

"It's been too long…"

"Y-Yes, way too long...!"

Chomesuke, in her bitter joy, was not ready for Anita to pull back and hold her reassuringly at an arm's distance but she did not object.

Now that she looked, she could see Anita's dainty features like she were painted with the blackest ink under the hood of her cloak. There was a kindness and warmth in her eyes that Chomesuke missed more than anything.

"What are…." She breathed almost too easily, the troubles and turmoils of all that the wizard had wrought nearly forgotten in that brief moment, "Why did you…. Find me?"

"Chomesuke…." Anita breathed heavily, a look of seriousness falling over her face, "...There's something I need you to do."

"...W-What is it…?"

There was a silence. Anita knew this wouldn't be easy. Chomesuke wouldn't have taken the boy if it were easy. She knew she had to tread carefully and yet not beat around the bush like she so often did with her feelings because the cold was only getting worse and they were very very short on time.

So, with both her hands cupping her sister's ice cold face, she just said what she needed to say.

"Chomesuke, I need you to return Allen to Wonderland."

The silence that followed was almost deafening. Anita didn't need to see her face fallen to know that her sister had immediately gone from welcoming to hostile. She could feel the distrust welling up in her heart as though it were her own.

"...What?" Chomesuke pushed her hands back and slowly retreated backwards, her gaze turning to a cold glare.

Preparing to block a far more dangerous barrage of attacks, Anita held her hands up as though she were trying to approach a wild animal that could strike at any moment.

"Listen," Anita began, "This is not what you think it is."

Almost as though she hadn't heard her speak, Chomesuke started, her voice cold and monotone like she were reading a script.

"You're his." She stated, her eyes flaring with distrust and malice, "The wizard sent you, didn't he."

It wasn't a question. The girl thought she was stating a fact.

Anita could not have that, not when the only weapon against the wizard was at risk.

"I know." She said with a feigned smirk, "I know what you think this is, but I need you to listen. He needs to go back. He's-!"

"No!" Chomesuke cried out suddenly, her hands suddenly flying up and clamping her ears shut, "I won't listen! I'll never listen to him again!".

"I'm not here for him, Chomesuke." Anita spoke with agitation, her patience wearing thin as her sister took two more shaken steps back till she was just inches away from Allen's feet, "You don't understand. That boy is key-!"

"No, you don't understand!" Chomesuke screamed like a small child, squeezing her eyes shut till she was practically blind, holding her ears tighter and tighter till she was digging her nails into the side of her head, "You don't understand anything at all! He's using you! He's manipulating you because of your loyalties-!

"My loyalties are not to the wizard, Chomesuke! Not after what that man did to Miranda!".

What followed was a long silence as Chomesuke released her ears, her expression blank and her eyes filled with something akin to shock.

One, she had never heard Anita get so mad before.

Second and most importantly, she had not heard that name truly mentioned in years.

"Anita….." She dared to speak, almost fearful of the answer, "Wh….What did….He do to-

-energy.

The shelter of a large room in the nearest inn came completely free of charge. The owner said that being thanked by two imperial witches of Wonderland was enough thanks for him.

Almost as though they were the soldiers who served under them in armies back in Wonderland, the people there treated them with respect and love for no reason other than their standing in the richest government on the continent.

Anita couldn't complain to much as they payed the half dead light meister in her arms no mind. When she and Chomesuke took the boy into their room and locked the door. As was requested of them, young men guarded the door and respected their privacy.

Perhaps it was too great a safety measure but they could not risk anyone interrupting them.

Anita laid Allen upon the first bed and, after removing most of his clothing, wrapped him up in as many covers they could find. It wouldn't be enough, they knew this, but it was all they could do for now.

No sooner than then, Anita sat beside him.

And no sooner than that, Chomesuke saw the warning signs.

"What are you doing?!" She blurted as she shot straight to her feet.

"What I must." Anita snapped as she cast a glance her way, "I'm giving him energy."

"And where, pray tell, are you getting it?".

"The dark star." Anita explained like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

For a moment, a look of pure shock went over the other's face as she walked up to the boys bedside.

"The Emerald City? But how?"

"He called out to me." Anita did not meet her eyes but rather gazed into the boy's pale sleeping face, the face of the boy that might as well have been her nephew, "The ritual enraged him. He promised to help me on one condition; That Allen's new strength is not wasted and that he is sent to the sacrifice."

"Why?!" She shouted with a stomp of her foot, her brown eyes growing distant with sorrow and confusion, "Why is all this for Allen!? Why does the Emerald city want him?! You and Mahoja both say he is the key but if he is really who you say he is…!"

"He is the key." Anita replied, "This mere child is the only thing that can stop the wizard. It's the only reason he exists."

"Miranda would never do that!" Chomesuke reasoned, "She would never have this child just to have him die! She'd practically be no better than the wizard!"

"She was not innocent... Not even her..."

"She may not have been innocent, but she truly did love him! She sacrificed herself for this child, not because of planning but because she loved him! That boy is not a tool, he is family and he does not deserve this!"

"Do you think any of the sacrifices did? How many more innocent lives like his will have to be taken before it's over, Chomesuke?! It will never end! The wizard's thirst for power will never be quenched till he is stopped for good!"

"I know that, but surely there is a way that doesn't involve walking in that man's footsteps!"

"Saving one doomed life while millions of others are slaughtered will not redeem you, Chomesuke! I know he is your friend but sacrifices need to be made!"

"You just don't get it, do you, Anita...!"

"...What don't I understand that is conflicting inside you so, sister...?"

"I...! I promised...!"

"What did you promise?"

"I... I promised Lavi that I would keep him safe, Anita! Lavi made me promise to protect him, to make sure he was happy for the rest of days! I can't... I can't just break that promise...I..."

"...Chomesuke, I know it is hard. I know it seems cruel. I know it seems wrong, but we must... We must-

-poor little boy, heart as pure as freshly fallen snow, eyes as clear as the finest crystal. You have killed in ignorance, your innocence remains despite the growing seed of doubt that ails you. You are dear, you are good, you are far more precious than even the finest diamonds and emeralds in all of Wonderland.

Poor poor little boy. Your laugh brings the fae about but they would never touch a spirit so good.

Dear child, your tears call the very nature around you to your aid but they would never dare interfere with your destiny.

Cursed child, your pain is the pain of fawns. Even they cry with you.

Hated child, your healing heals the land around you and chrysanthemums bloom in your every step.

Broken child, your love is strong enough to break even the weakest of hearts.

Deceased child, your hate so easily blinds you. When dark clouds of malice block those violet eyes of crystal, the light of my world is snuffed out.

You have laughed, you have cried, you have hurt, you have healed, you have loved, you have hated.

Your life, though short, was lived in innocence. You saw the wonder and beauty of this grand, vast and wonderful world through the eyes of a child, you saw it through lens of how it was meant to be viewed. Your sight was not jaded nor did the colour ever fade.

You were not selfish. A good life was meant to be lived with a strong thirst for more. Only when the sweet fruits of life have spoilt is it that one has enough of living. Only when all is gone in pain is life no longer worth living so it is good for it to end when life is still sweet, it's blessed delectable flavor still upon your lips.

I know it hurts for it to be taken so suddenly but you have truly experienced its best. You needn't regret a life never truly lived because, out of all of us in this cursed land, you lived the strongest, the best.

You were a star that gifted us with your light, though only for a brief moment, but do not think your time on this earth was meaningless for it is because of you that we, drowning in our own ignorance, are now to be free of that man's vile chains.

You, Allen are the child of light.

I, your mother, will always love-

-never worth it.

I'm sorry Lavi. I'm grateful to you, a person far superior to me but I cannot let this happen.

You stayed behind, prepared to be devoured in the very den of the darkest shadows for the sake of millions of doomed lives. You, kind friend, who had no obligation or duty to do this for us, you who had your whole life ahead of you.

You stayed behind for my sake, because you wanted me to be safe, because you wanted me to be happy. What you did was selfless, what you did was good, what you did was more than enough proof that you are more than the lowly dormouse you believe yourself to be.

I'm sorry for doubting you even for a second.

You were kind, you were good, you were selfless, you were brave; All these things I will never be.

Its simply this. Its simply that you forgot that, without you, without someone who holds me in value, without friends, without things that brighten one's day just that little bit, I am worth absolutely nothing and my days are not worth saving.

I know you'll be angry at me, I know you'll be angry at Chomesuke for breaking her promise, I know you'll be angry at yourself most of all but please don't let such thoughts pollute your days. Please, for my sake, live the rest of your life in the one thing truly worth living for, fighting for, and dying for; Love.

Please don't be sad, angry, or spiteful but rather, smile.

There is so much in life still worth doing, so many people worth helping, so many adventures still waiting to be had, so many sunsets still worth seeing.

There is so much more that you could do in my place so please don't be sad and just know this.

Lavi, I-

-really have done this?

Am I a monster for doing this to my family?

Am I really becoming the wizard?

Is this truly right?

Have I truly done wrong?

Please tell me, I-

The sacrificial podium was a large flat disk-like structure built some one hundred fifty feet high at the foot of the royal palace of hearts, the limestone staircase that led to the palace grounds curving around the flying buttresses that supported the podium like it were an interruption in a small stream.

Aside from the seven buttresses at the base that supported themselves on nearby buildings that surrounded the area, there were six others intended to support the staircase that led up to the podium in one long straight and glorious path.

The grand metropolis of Wonderland was nearly left abandoned, the most densely populated city on the continent turned into a ghost town in one night as every citizen, rich or poor, old or young pooled all around this unusual podium like they were under spell just to get even glimpse of this glorious day.

It was a glorious day and yet no one smiled, laughed or cried. No one felt a thing and yet they came.

At the very edge like it would fall at the slightest wind was the golden throne and the Wizard of Oz, adorned in purple robes and the finest precious gems sat like a bronze statue with his scepter in hand. His aura was to be respected, a powerful and feared nature but not a kind one.

At his sides were the incomplete set of imperial witches; One at one side, two at another, equally as beautifully adorned as their master.

The witch sister's slim bodies were dressed in cloaks of crimson red silk, lace in bundles falling over their faces, bare legs and hands. Their faces were hidden by white masks of plaster with smiling faces carved upon them and in each of their hands was a single shimmering silver dagger. Their heads were held low in respect and humility, their nature erased being perfect puppets of the Wizard of Oz.

Overhead, the Emerald City had fully eclipsed the sun and left the land in perfect darkness. The time was nigh, the ritual was to begin now.

The Wizard hit his scepter against the crystal once to signal all.

Trumpets echoed through the street, soldiers played the unusual and wondrous melody as they walked down the path made for them, leading thousands of meisters clothed in white sacrificial robes to that special little podium.

They wept bitter tears but the tears of the sacrifices went unheard.

Each one, no matter what stature or upbringing was brought low and sorrowful as they mourned their own death as they walked upon that accursed road.

It was only upon arriving at the first step of the pathway that the trumpeting soldiers ceased their song and slowed their march, one booted foot remaining on that first step.

They stopped and yet the sacrifices kept at their slow and steady walk almost as though they were savoring every moment they had in this world till their death stole them far away from this world on angels wings.

Death was not wanted. They did not want to to die that day.

Those prayers prayed under their breath were unheard surely.

No sooner than that, no sooner than the thought leaving their lips under breath, a spark produced a flame and, in a single moment, the impossible happened.

An explosion like none ever heard in Wonderland before disrupted the quiet peace of this joyous day. A flash momentarily blinded the people only to be followed by a deafening sound that shook the ground underneath them and bulbous cloud of heat, hideous black smokes and fire rising from the first buttress of the staircase.

Suddenly, the shadowy veil upon the city had been torn away and all was revealed in a single bright light. Some fled and hid their eyes while others let the light fill their dry eyes, fearless and thirsty.

Before any of them, even the Wizard himself could quite understand what had happened, the first buttress detached from the structure it was intended to support and its remains; Stone, ash and flame; along with a portion of the stairs fell from the sky in once touched and hit the earth with a mighty sound.

It was quickly followed by a second on the second buttress, doing the same damage.

Another on the third.

Another on the fourth.

Another on the fifth.

Another on the sixth.

Every buttress had been destroyed by the swift hand of fire and the bridge with it, torn down and thrown to the ground in an instant.

The stadium erupted in howls of horror and fear, a choir of disaster.

Most of the citizens had fled the scene in terror, thinking something had incurred the wizard's wrath and caused the disaster. They were blinded with fear. They had no idea what had happened and they didn't want to as they ran back to the comfort of their own homes.

The soldiers tried to contain the meisters but they were quickly overpowered. The meisters, each and every one of them, ran for their lives, hoping to leave this wretched place and never return again. No one dared stop them in fear they to would become ill with the pathogen so the victims of the horrendous acts of Wonderland, were allowed the freedom they so prayed for.

But even as the smoke and flame danced all around them, even through the deadly heat and the smoke so thick that no man could breath in it, even through this, the Wizard and his witches remained.

Slowly, like his movements were the work of machinery, the man rose to his feet.

Silently, he assessed the situation with his eyes and ears, as sharp as those of an eagle.

No one was hurt. No one was even injured. It was almost as though it had been planned.

All around him, he heard the heartbeats, saw the fears and heard the lies of the cities citizens. They scattered here and there, to and for like dust scattered in the wind.

But he sensed one heartbeat that stood so very still like a well built foundation. He saw no fear in this heart nor did he hear lies, only the quickened beat of a brave heart.

He did not need to be told to know that this was the one who had done this to his grand podium.

Wind cleared the smoke and silenced the roaring flame. When it was done and it all cleared, all that was left was the Wizard of Oz at his throne and a young man with flaming red hair perched upon the stump left from the staircase.

This was him. This was the terrorist that had committed such an atrocity.

It had been a while since a mere human had hurt the Wizard this way and yet despite this, despite that this stupid young man was staring death itself in the face, he smiled brighter than the missing sun so blotted out by the Emerald City.

The Wizard had never been so immediately disgusted by a mortal being before.

He knew what sort of man he was; So human, so weak, so feeble, so self-righteous and yet he dare challenged him, a child against a dragon. He was so much more than the weak stick before him and yet he dare, and yet he had the gall to stand up to the Wizard, a man who thought himself a god.

This young man, whoever he was, dared to disrupt his precious ritual, like he had any right to do such a thing.

It was so disgusting to the Wizard that he made the decision to fight him alone, to put the fear of him in that boy's vibrant green eyes, to drive him to his knees at the mere mention of his name.

He would fight him and he would kill him alone.

It was because of this that the witches at his throne could not leave its side. The magic inside them that the Wizard controlled kept them in place. All they could do is hope for a maricle.

The terrorist stepped forward, an iron hammer at his side. The Wizard thought it laughable his feeble attempt at self defense, thinking he could even protect himself. It was childish, but he drew his bluff and let simple power symbols fall along not just his arms, but his entire body; Crimson brands in the shape of stars speckled his skin, light under his skin growing brighter with every second.

The terrorist still did not fall to his knees and beg for forgiveness so the wizard found himself inclined to strike.

Mass altering power left his body and shot forward. In a second, the crystal under the terrorists feet shattered, shards shooting straight up in attempt to impale him but, to the Wizard's momentary bafflement, the terrorist slammed his hammer into the ground and, mere split seconds before the Wizard's attack could hit him, he pole vaulted to safety and kept his steady approach of the monster he saw before him.

So fast, the Wizard thought, Had he seen his attack coming?

But his thought were immediately silenced as he focused another sample of his power on a space attack. He sharpened the air in front of him into the deadliest of blades, capable of cutting even the thickest and strongest of metals clean in half.

The power left him yet again and he thought with utmost surety that the invisible attack would reach its mark but, yet again, just seconds before it reached the terrorist, he lept up just in time to dodge his attack.

The Wizard thought it impossible, completely and utterly improbable. There was no way this terrorist, a mere human would be able to live this long against him.

And it was this shock that temporarily staggered the creature. It was this feeling of doubt and confusion that made the Wizard vulnerable just long enough for this mysterious terrorist to rush forward almost inhumanly quickly and land a blow on him; A strike to his face.

The Wizard stood there, almost inhumanly frozen, his head jerked back at the power of the blow.

A single drop of black blood fell from his white lips. A single black stream falling down his chin, warm and sticky. He had not felt it in a long long time.

It was in that moment that the mysterious terrorist committed the worst crime a mortal could commit against the Wizard. It was in this moment that the mysterious terrorist caused the Wizard of Oz to bleed in front of the people that revered him so very much.

It suddenly became very clear that this red haired terrorist was a foreigner and had no idea who it was that he was dealing with.

His time was impressive. Truthfully no mere human has ever lasted this long, much less publicly dishonoured him publicly but he had a ritual to perform and this little dual had long lost its flavor.

Now it was time for him to die.

The Wizard summoned inhuman strength into his fists and jerked his body around completely. In one swift motion, he seized the terrorist by the throat and lifted him from the ground with ease, like he were lifting a feather.

The red headed young man choked, his hands instinctively coming up to the wizard's hand to pry his solid iron grip off his throat but that did nothing.

The Wizard had hoped he'd alas see that fear, that terror, that despair he longed to see in the young man's eye but he was met with a sickened disappointment. All he saw was a green fire burning bright and acceptance.

The terrorist was not afraid to die. He had accepted his fate.

The Wizard would have crushed his throat and spinal cord in that instant. It would have come to him as easy as breathing but something made him pause.

Another heartbeat approached. One far too familiar.

Truthfully, it was the gentle humming in the air like a mother's sweet lullaby coming ever closer with every moment. It was chilling and yet warm, frightening and yet comforting, inhuman and yet so very human.

The Wizard paused.

A light came into his peripheral vision, faintly glowing and twinkling like the hidden stars above.

At first it was unfamiliar. At first he thought it just another flame left over from the explosion but a flame had never been so pure and gentle. It was a gentle white light, the light of a pure life.

His eyes widened in recognition.

The Wizard had only felt fear twice in his life.

The first was his first meeting of the abomination Miranda and that man created.

The second time was now because he would recognize the aura of that wretched abomination, no matter how hard it disguised itself.

He cast a glance to the light.

In the faint shimmering outline of light, the body of the young boy was silhouetted as he walked, every step a dance, his very form seemingly swaying to a nonexistent rhythm. His eyes were shut tight like he were sleeping and his very form had the appearance of a dream.

It wasn't possible. Surely the abomination he had come after all those years ago would not return for him now at a time like this like he were an angel of death.

The staircase had been torn down, destroyed and yet the abomination skipped like a child right up nonexistent steps.

His mouth was not opening and yet he still sang. His eyes were not open and yet he still saw.

He was coming. The abomination, the creature made specifically to bring him down from his throne was coming.

It was not physically possible.

Surely not.

Surely he had become a god.

Surely his reign would last forever.

Surely his kingdom would be eternal.

Surely the meddling of one silly little girl and her wretched offspring would not be what brought him down.

Despite this, the child still came closer, closer, closer, his nature kind and gentle like that of his mother. It was disgusting, revolting, so very frustrating.

He wanted to crush him. He wanted to kill him. He wanted to end him.

Bloodlust boiled up inside his being, rage poisoned the strength in his bones. He could not contain his hate for this creature, this wretched abomination.

And yet the child still came closer, closer, closer.

Finally, when the child arrived upon the stump left of the stairs, his pace ceased. His eyes were closed but the Wizard could still feel him observe him. He knew he was watching, judging, analyzing all he had done.

The terrorist gave out a faulty choke and breath the child's name.

"...A-A-Allen…!" He choked out the words through clenched teeth, his eyes wide with fear and confusion, "...N….No….!"

The abomination called Allen did not respond but it was in that moment that the Wizard realized that the terrorist and the abomination were acquainted somehow. Friends.

It was by the abominations appearance that the terrorist let the fear shimmer in his eyes. The wizard let himself indulge in the sudden rush of pleasure the sight gave him before he promptly turned his eyes to the abomination.

A god could kill two children. It would be beyond easy.

And so, without further ado, he squeezed.

The sound of a hideous snap echoed through the podium as the terrorists body suddenly went limp, arms hanging limply at his sides as his jaw went slack.

A silence. He opened his hand and let the terrorists new corpse hit the crystal floor.

The brave little terrorist was dead, the light in his vibrant green eyes now extinguished. The boy who had his entire life ahead of him was dead, gone. Such a waste, such a tragedy.

His story would be forgotten, his grave trampled underfoot by all; Such was the fate of those who chose to remain human.

He had done it to get a reaction out of the boy, in hopes that he would see the same fear and pain in him as he had seen in the dead terrorist but upon turning to the child, he was disappointed to see he hadn't even so much as flinched. That made him angry.

He had just murdered his friend in front of him and the child didn't even react. The Wizard knew he was in control of all things so boys like this little abomination should be good boys and dance when told to dance and sing when told to sing.

A step taken forward, consumed in his never ending pool of rage, he just looked at the child.

The child was going to die. The child would die and the Wizard would locate the lost meisters and complete the ritual so that he could truly become the god he so longed to be.

But little did the Wizard of Oz know that in his search for higher meaning, he had become the true child.

But little did the silly little man know that know man can become a god but every man is more than capable of becoming a demon.The divinity he sought was a lie and now he sat corrupted, spoilt, evil.

Little did the mere human know that evil will never prevail, never truly.

Instead of grief, instead of fear, instead of shock, the boy opened his mouth and smiled with the power that brought family together and made flowers bloom in the spring.

He smiled because he was sure. He was sure that everything would be just fine.

Allen did not cry because he no longer fell to fear or hate but he filled his world with the only thing truly worth fighting for; Love.

He loved, he did love and would continue to love forever because love was what truly made this grand life worth it.

He opened his eyes but his violet gaze was not seen. Rather the purest white light fell from his sockets; Weaponized life force, all the time he had left on this earth.

The light around him only grew all the brighter at the Wizard's words who begged him to stop, to cease, anything.

He did not need a crown because the angel's halo suited him most.

Light enveloped that stadium light the stars themselves were playing like children. Neither stadium nor Wizard nor abomination existed as the light erased all.

He did not stop walking towards him.

Just as the Wizard had ruthlessly taken lives with neither regret nor mercy, at long last, the good wizard perfected with love, known as Allen did not have mercy when he tore the Wizard's lifespan from his body and transferred it to the corpse of his dear friend.

He knew he would be angry but if Lavi was alright, he knew he could be happy.

Alas the chains were broken.

Light defeated darkness. David slayed Goliath. Good conquered evil.

The people of Wonderland awoke from their beds feeling as though they had just escaped the worst of nightmares.

Just as they awoke from their nightmares that trapped them so long, Lavi, a normal dormouse from past the peaks of Nim awoke from his dreams to one of the worse nightmares he ever had while Allen, a young light meister, a perfected wizard, and the child of the imperial witch of time, neither dreamt of sweet dreams or hideous nightmares for now he was at peace in his eternal slumber.

The stars truly are beautiful, each one bearing their own story to tell.

You never know how much you miss them till they have vanished.

World left unspoken and times left unspent.

All these feelings can be summed up in this one phrase.

You Are My Everything.

 _ **FIN**_

( It's over. Kinda. I'm so sorry that it was total horse poop but thank you so much, with all my heart for reading this far. I am so sorry its terrible. I don't like this ending. I actually like the last chapters ending better. This ending was part of the original idea and I didn't want to part with the main course. Now I am very sick and my swollen cheek is making me unhappy but finishing this story really lifted my spirits. I thank you all, jy24 in particular for convincing me to do this. Thank you so so so very much. Good day and God bless.)


End file.
